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"Parents' Night" is the twenty-fifth episode of the first season of Recess, which was first broadcast on January 17th, 1998.

Plot[]



Summary[]

Third Street's parents' night is coming up; however, Spinelli is too embarrassed to bring her parents with her.

Main Story[]

A parents' night is coming-up at Third Street, and the gang except Spinelli is excited to bring their parents to school. Spinelli is apprehensive about her parents attending Parent's Night by having them not attend. She does that by making up excuses about them. Curious that she and her parents never attended Parents' Night (let alone that her parents are never seen), the gang attempt to have her attend anyway. After a series of unhandy plans, Spinelli confirms that her parents will come.

When Parents' Night comes, Spinelli's parents finally attend by impressing the gang. It is found that these are not her real parents as she paid them to pretend to be as such. This deal falls through and Spinelli's faux parents leave. Later that night, her real parents come, embarrassing their daughter and being worse than the gang expected. The Spinelli's eventually reconcile and return to Parents' Night. After that, her father is revealed to actually be a Secret Agent. He is revealed to be Agent 006, telling his superiors that he can't attend the mission because of Parents' night.

Goofs[]

  • Animation/consistency error: In the beginning of the episode, Gus folds a paper and inserts in his shirt pocket. Later in the episode, his shirt has no pocket.
  • Animation/consistency error: While T.J. is talking to Spinelli while sitting on the ground in front of Gus, Gus has no watch.
  • Animation/consistency error: While Mikey is seen sitting on the cheesebox, the box looks smaller than him, being much smaller than in other episodes.
  • Animation/continuity error: During the scene at the cafeteria, T.J. is initially sitting in front of Gus. Once a boy comes to tell that he has heard that Spinelli's parents would be on the space shuttle, T.J. is sitting in front of Gretchen.
  • Animation/consistency error: While Gus is on the tree watching Spinelli down below, his watch is drawn upside down. It is also on his right arm instead of the usual left.
  • Animation/continuity error: Once Spinelli sees Mikey inside the trash can, she drops a trash bag to the ground beside the can. This bag never reappears again in the following scenes.
  • Animation/continuity error: While Spinelli's fake parents are drinking root beer, Spinelli is right in front of teacher's desk. When she is shown replying to Gus, there is no desk behind her anymore; the desk only reappears after the fake parents take Spinelli away.
  • Animation/continuity error: After Spinelli's fake parents take the money from her, Spinelli returns to classroom and sits down. In this scene, initially there is no plant near the corner, but this plant appears after other characters approach her.
  • Animation/continuity error: When Flo told Miss Grotke that Spinelli just stop "wetting the bed" this year, Flo's necklace briefly disappears.

Trivia[]

Regular[]

  • Most of the kids have some resemblance to their parents, as seen in this episode. Hustler Kid looks like his dad, the Ashleys all look like their moms, Vince looks like his dad, Gretchen looks like both of her parents, Gus looks like a smaller, less-rugged version of his dad, T.J. looks like his mom, Mikey looks like his mom and has blond hair like his dad, and Spinelli has minor resemblance to both of her parents.
  • In one scene, Spinelli's fake dad asks Miss Grotke for "brews". This is one of very few times alcoholic beverages are outright stated in any Disney-produced animated series.
  • It is revealed The Ashleys' mothers are all friends, likely explaining why they all have the same name.
  • When this episode aired in the UK, the part where Bob Spinelli says "A little fanny in the air" was cut, due to "fanny" being an offensive word in UK. This cut was also present when the episode aired in reruns on ABC, UPN, and Disney Channel in the US. The line was reinstated in the US Toon Disney broadcast and Disney+ streaming service.
  • Flo Spinelli's voice actress became famous playing Peggy Bundy in "Married With Children". There are some similarities in the way they look and dress.
  • This episode premiered on Rickey D'Shon Collins' (The voice of Vince) fifteenth birthday.

Allusions[]

  • Mikey quotes from Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night".
  • Double-O agents were invented by Ian Fleming in his James Bond novels.

Continuity[]

  • This is the first appearances of the parents of the gang (with the exception of Lt. Griswald, who debuted in the episode "The New Kid", and Vince's parents, who debuted in the episode "Big Brother Chad"), as well as the parents of all of the Ashleys and Hustler Kid.
  • This is the third time it is hinted that Spinelli has a crush on T.J., with her mom commenting that, "T.J. is the one Spinelli has the crush on".
  • In this episode, the walls in Spinelli's living room are pink. For the rest of the series, they are tan.
  • In this episode only, April Winchell uses a higher voice for T.J.'s mom (Similar to the one she uses for Peg Pete on Goof Troop and Lydia Pearson on Pepper Ann). For the rest of the series, she uses her natural voice.

Cast[]

Gallery[]

Photos The Recess Wiki has a collection of images about Parents' Night
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