Frogs – Episode 1
A sleepy frog village at a shoreless lake is tickled awake by the morning sun. Frog Marley is up early. He is doing yoga in front of an old hippie bus through which a tree has grown. Albert the weatherman puts on his horn-rimmed glasses, checks if the pen is in his breast pocket, and leaves his wooden frog house with thermometer and ladder. Arnold, his son, who imitates his father in all aspects, is looking forward to school. On the way there, Arnold drives Albert up the wall with questions.
One house further on, Rana yawns in her bed. She wears round glasses and frizzy hair. Her mom is a teacher in the village school, and her name is Elisabeth. She puts on her lipstick, which underlines her styling.
In Gerry’s room, in the Frog House just across the street, complete chaos reigns. Gerry jumps with a golden microphone through his own world and sings to his karaoke machine. His bed is the stage, and the posters with his idols are the audience. Among them is a picture of Tiffy a Chihuahua-It-Girl dog with a toothpaste smile. Gerry hammers the last note into the microphone and jumps off the bed with a sweeping gesture that rattles one floor below.
There, as every morning, his daddy Henry is waiting for him, standing behind the open front door in his orange swimming trunks and whistle. He looks tensely at his wristwatch. Sophia, Gerry’s mom, calms him down and calls, “Come on, Daddy is waiting for you!” Gerry throws the microphone on the bed, stuffs a few school things in his satchel, and lets the karaoke machine roar.
“Yes, I’m coming,” he calls out to mom and dad halfway down the stairs. He turns around again. “Forgotten!” He yells and jumps into the room of his little sister, Flower, who is snoring gently, and gives her a big kiss. Slowly, she opens one eye and smiles at him.
Henry leaves the house with Gerry. He strides ahead and his son lingers behind. At the school gate, they meet Elisabeth and Rana. She greets Gerry shyly. Her mom nods wordlessly and disappears with Rana before Gerry notices her. Henry admonishes his son to behave himself, he replies, “You know me.” Henry reminds him with a raised forefinger that they have an appointment in the afternoon. This interferes with his plans, but Gerry reluctantly accepts it. Henry hugs him tightly and Gerry releases himself with all his strength. He checks briefly whether his classmates have noticed, and strolls purposefully cool into the school building.
Frantic and chaos in the classroom. The school bell rings. Gerry rushes to his seat and Elisabeth awaits him with a stern look. Rana adores him from the side, but his looks belong exclusively to Anna, the rich kid blonde who is not interested in him at all. Elisabeth takes a deep breath and takes a last sip from the coffee cup, “Good morning. Let’s start with the homework right away.” Silence fills the air as Gerry sinks into his chair. “The topic today is: Big goals need little dreamers.” Gerry looks innocently down while Elisabeth searches over her heads with her index finger. Arnold snaps into the air with an outstretched arm, but Elisabeth points purposefully at Gerry. Hectic activity breaks out at him. “Just a moment!” Rana pushes her homework discreetly over to him. “Ah, there they are.” He begins, “A little dreamer can achieve anything. I dream of singing, dancing…” The class drowns him out with laughter. Gerry replies, “It was only a joke.” Rana grabs her homework and turns her back to him, disappointed. He wants to apologize, but she ignores him. Elisabeth takes a big sip, shakes her head, and says, “Thank you, Rana. Next.”
End of school. Weekend finally. The students are running out of the school building. Rana’s big eyes are looking for Gerry’s gaze, but he runs past her to the cool classmates and asks, “Is anyone coming to the lake?” They shake their heads and Anna notices disparagingly. “You better go splash around alone with Daddy.” Gerry sneaks off in shame and Anna struts off to her mommy. She’s an established member of the chic and perfumed ladies club with big sunglasses. Anna pulls her glasses out of her satchel and hopes to be noticed.
All hell is breaking loose at the lake. Parasols, croaking, and splashing around. Henry has everything in sight through his pilot’s glasses from the frogguard headquarters. The headquarters is a wooden building on stilts, with a ramp and a balcony. On the roof is an anti-stork catapult loaded with chestnuts, and on a high metal pole, the Frogtown flag is hoisted. Gerry slurps up the ramp and welcomes Henry’s colleague Steve with a high five. Henry notes, “Well, here we are. How was school?” Gerry walks past him and his dad adds, “Grab your stuff!” Gerry disappears into the frogguard headquarters and Henry, in the meantime, whistles to a couple of boys who dunk a smaller frog.
Gerry comes back in orange swimming trunks and a whistle, hangs his lifebuoy on the wall, and joins them. Henry explains with a great gesture, “Concentrate. Look closely. You are already a good frogguard, but you lack discipline and experience. Every mistake can cost lives.” Gum bubble. Plop! Henry continues, “Okay, we have to load the catapult. Can you do it alone?” Steve answers for Gerry, “Sure he can, Henry.” They both disappear to the roof.
In the tadpole kindergarten, there is an exuberant atmosphere. Sophia demonstrates the swimming movements for the offspring from the shore. She waves to Gerry. The frogs in the water imitate her and sink for a moment. Flower also cavorts around with the little ones and shouts: “Gerry!” He greets back discreetly.
In the sky, three storks spy unnoticed on the villagers. Al and Eddy, with helmets like fighter pilots, and Larry, who prefers a leather hood, old aviation glasses, and scarf.