"To Sleep Perchance to Burp" is an episode of the stop motion animated series, Bump in the Night.
(Aired on October 1, 1994)
Plot[]
The episode starts in The Boy's bedroom, where Mr. Bumpy is busy sock hunting, Bumpy finds a perfect right foot sock and devours it. Bumpy then starts belching and burps the alphabet through "M", he then claims he can go all the way to "Z" with a left foot sock.
Bumpy then finds a sock sticking out of the closet door, which is actually a trap from the Closet Monster. Bumpy falls for the bait and a large Monster claw reaches out for Bumpy. The Closet Monster grabs Bumpy by the tongue and starts shaking him and knocking him around.
Bumpy tries pulling on his tongue, the Monster releases Bumpy's tongue and he is thrown across the room and smacks into the wall. Bumpy is temporarily squashed from the impact, he finds Molly's disembodied leg, and thinks it's his own.
Molly Coddle then appears, sewing herself together with needle and thread, she ask Bumpy if he could give her back her leg. Molly ask Bumpy if he's been up to anything, Bumpy tells Molly he escaped the Closet Monster for the third time this week. Molly tells Bumpy to be careful, saying that toys that gone into the closet never come back, Bumpy then vows to never ever go near the closet again.
Molly finds her missing button eye, Bumpy ask Molly why she is in pieces, Molly says that Little Sister wanted to play Hospital and she was the patient. Molly says it's her job, being a comfort doll to do anything for her owner and how much she cares about Little Sister. Bumpy then says that he looks up to The Boy because he is his Hero, and he leaves him dirty socks, chewed gum and torn baseball cards for him.
Just then, The Boy enters the room, The Mom tells him it is time for bed, but the Boy is afraid of the Monster under his bed. The Mom tells the Boy that children that don't get any sleep "turn into Zucchini's" and says goodnight. Bumpy over hears this and decides to find the Monster that is scaring his Boy.
Molly and Bumpy then go under the bed, to find the unknown monster, Bumpy finds the monster's belongings, Molly tells Bumpy those are his belongings and Bumpy thinks the monster took his stuff. Molly then brings out a chalk board and tries to explain to Bumpy that if all the stuff belongs to the monster under the bed and the stuff belongs to him then that means that Bumpy is the monster scaring the boy. Bumpy then realizes that all the stuff belongs to him and he brings out party noise makers to celebrate.
The Boy wakes up because he can hear the monster under his bed, and Bumpy then feels bad for scaring the Boy. The mother returns into the room to calm the Boy down and tells him there are no such things as monsters, Bumpy is then upset, because he is the one keeping the Boy from sleeping.
The Boy tries to get to sleep but then gets up to go to the bathroom, Squishington then lifts up the toilet tank to look around. Both Squishington and the Boy see each other and then scream in fear, the Boy runs away and Squish hides inside the toilet. Molly tells Squish that they need his help to get the Boy to sleep, Squishy then agrees and jumps out of the tank with a yellow box and tells Molly he was just going over to Mr.Bumpy's. Squishy tells Molly he found disgusting things that Bumpy would like he opens the yellow box and shows Molly and ask her if she wants to see them, she looks at them disturbed and tells Squishy "Uh thanks".
Back in the Bedroom the Mom tucks the Boy in bed and tells him to get comfortable and he'll be asleep in no time and then she tells him Good night and leaves the room, but The Boy knows there are monsters and there gonna get him.
Bumpy gets worried and says the if his boy didn't get any sleep "he'll turn into a Zucchini". He then imagines what it would like if his Boy actually "turned into Zucchini" he starts freaking out. Molly calms him down and tells him the Boy just hasn't got the right incentive to go to sleep. Bumpy gets an idea that if they gave the Boy a little encouragement, some sort of "Reward for going to sleep".
Then Bumpy and Squishy leave the yellow box with a tag on it to make the kid thinks it from the Mom on The Boy's bed next to him, and Bumpy whispers quietly that he'd go to sleep for a present like this then the jump off the bed real quick before the Boy sees them.
The Boy then wakes up and sees the box and reads the tag "Go to sleep, Shut your eyes and you will get this big surprise, Love Mom."
The Boy then opens the box and sees all the gross disgusting stuff like used band-aids, chewed gum etc......
He freaks out sending the box flying and the trash landing on the floor as Bumpy, Molly and Squishy run and hide as Molly tells them to look out. The Boy then hides under the blanket all upset and the Mom comes in the bedroom and tells him it's all and that once and for all there are no monsters and it was just his imagination.
He tells his mother that he knows there's monsters and that there coming to get him and The Mom tells him about a monster living in the closet. Bumpy thinks The Closet Monster was the one keeping The Boy awake and the Mom tells the Boy that the monster in the closet won't get children unless they goes to sleep. He then tells The Mom he's gonna go to sleep right now and after The Mom leaves the bedroom. Molly tells Bumpy that the Boy is going to sleep now but he still hides under the blanket and whispers to himself saying that the Monster shouldn't get him.
Bumpy has had it and decides to go into the closet and fight The Closet Monster but Molly reminds him of his vows to never go near the closet again. Bumpy wants to forget it and says that he has to do it for the Boy his hero, Squishy offers him a baseball bat as a weapon but Bumpy tells him he has to do this alone and he goes into the closet and gets attacked by The Closet Monster and shouts for the bat. Squishy panics and hopes someone can save Bumpy.
Molly then points out that the Boy is hearing the noise and realizes it the monster in the closet, as the Boy wakes up he realizes what he must do is that he's not gonna let the monster get him if he gets him first. So the Boy then picks up the bat and goes in the closet and beats up The Unseen Monster and his stuff falls out of the closet as he falls over. The Mom comes in and turns on the light asking the Boy what was going on in his room and he tells his mom not to worry that he got The Closet Monster. The Mom congratulates him and asks him if he can now go to sleep, The Mom then puts the Boy to bed gives and a kiss goodnight and leaves the room.
Squishy and Molly come out of hiding and noticed no sign of Bumpy and they think The Closet Monster ate him and he is dead. They hug each other and Squishy tells Molly that they'll give there friend a send off to remember even Bumpy himself won't want to miss it. Then Bumpy comes through a lone sock on the floor and Squishy and Molly are happy to see him alive. Squishy tells Bumpy that the Boy rescued him and Bumpy tells them that his boy is something else, his hero and he ask if he's sleeping yet. Then Bumpy, Molly and Squishy stand on the nightstand watching the Boy sleep and Molly says he's out like a light. Squishy then agrees that he won't turn into a Zucchini now thanks to Mr.Bumpy.
Bumpy then says it gives him a wonderful feeling inside and he knows just the thing for it he picks up a sock and devours it Bumpy then starts belching and burps the alphabet through "Z" and shouts "Yes" and the episode ends.
Quotes[]
Mr Bumpy: Here's Bumpy! And look what I got! Night time is the right time for... sock hunting! They make my day so wonderful. Not to mention their nutritional value.
Mr Bumpy: What's this? MY LEG? Then where is the rest of me?!
Molly Coddle: Excuse me Mr Bumpy but can you hand me my limb please?
Mr Bumpy: Molly this is your leg, I knew it wasn't mind not enough warts on it, (Bumpy then hands Molly her leg.)
Bumpy: (talking to Molly) But it seems that you never get to do what YOU want.
Molly: Maybe not, but the Little Sister loves me, that's whats important. It gives me purpose, makes me feel alive, don't you understand. It makes me existentially transcends my corporal reality as a mere plaything!... Besides, I'm good at it!
Bumpy: yeah, well... whatever. Me, I just like The Boy 'cause, he's my HERO! Why without him, I wouldn't have any of my cool stuff... like dirty socks, chewed bubble gum, torn baseball cards and toe nail clipping. Especially gooey clumps of tissues. Bite my lip and call me Bumpy! Here's my boy now.
The Mom: (Putting The Boy to bed) Enough honey now go to sleep.
The Boy: But Mom I can't there's a monster under the bed.
Mr Bumpy: (Him and Molly are hiding and turns towards Molly) Monster?!
The Mom: (Looks under the bed) Nothing under here but junk.
Bumpy: I bet that's monster is hiding that's what I would do.
The Mom: Now go to sleep, Boys who don't get there rest turn into zucchini!
(Bumpy and Molly then gasp in horror)
Molly: Oh how awful
Bumpy: Eek
(The Mom then leaves The Boy's room and Bumpy and Molly come out of hiding)
Bumpy: Poor kid imagine turning into a zucchini, Sure glad I'm not human we gotta help him, We gotta make him go to sleep.
Molly: But how Bumpy?
Bumpy: We'll just have to see about this monster under his bed, You know it guys like that, That give us a bad name.
Molly: (Standing at The Bathroom door watching The Boy) Oh no he's gonna see Squishy,(Squishington and The Boy see each other and scream in horror)
Molly: *Gasp* (The Boy runs out of The Bathroom as Molly runs towards Squishington's toilet home), Squishy you gotta help us get The Boy to go to sleep!
Squishington: (Comes out of the toilet tank with a yellow box) Okay I was just going over to Mr Bumpy's I found some new icky things he's gonna really like, (Opens the box to show Molly), Wanna see Molly?
Molly: (Looks down in the box and makes a disgusted face), Uhh... Thanks Squishy.
Trivia[]
- The title of this episode "To Sleep Perchance to Burp", is a reference to a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to sleep perchance to dream."
- The animation in this episode is noticeably different than previous episodes, the stop motion characters have slightly different designs, notably in Squishington and Molly. This episode might have been the earliest episode in production, probably the reason why the animation style looks different.
- When Mr Bumpy imagines the boy being turned into a zucchini, the zucchini boy looks a bit like Gumby. Ken Pontac, the co-creator of Bump in the Night worked as art director for The New Adventures of Gumby, before creating Bump in the Night.
- When The Boy opens the closet door and attacks the unseen monster with a baseball bat, The Boy helped overcome his fear of the Closet Monster, and without realizing it he also saved Mr. Bumpy from the Closet Monster.
- This is the first appearance of The Closet Monster when we first see him we see just his arm, his hand, his fingers made from socks and his claws made from coat hangers also the same in the opening theme, We see a full version of the Closet Monster for the rest of the series.
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