The Frantic Fury of the Fearsome Furculees

The Frantic Fury of the Fearsome Furculees is the fifteenth episode of The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.

Synopsis
Jerome Horwitz Elementary School is going downhill with the Melvin Sneedlies putting regulations up that are centered solely on Melvin. George and Harold are going crazy, and enlist the help of Erica Wang, Bo Hweemuth, and other students to find Mr. Krupp so Captain Underpants can save the day, but Krupp is desparate to find the fountain of hair and the other M.I.S.F.A.R.T.S., aka the Mega Incredible Search Force Adventure Rescue Team Squad, have bailed on them! Will they make it?

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Summary
The episodes starts where the previous one left off. Melvin Sneedly and Melvinborg have taken over the school and gave it a "Melvin makeover" so that all everyone sees is Melvin's face. The two are introducing their most recent "Melvinovation": a uniform identical to Melvin's outfit. Harold Hutchins asks what if someone's allergic to it, and introduce the Iron Melvin, a metal, alternate uniform for those with allergies.

The kids then experience life at a Melvin school: Learning only about everything there is to know about Melvin, spending recess running from giant Melvin balloons, painting Melvin portraits for art, singing about Melvin during music, and having the songs downloaded to their phones. Before long, the kids are driven insane after spending the whole day seeing and hearing Melvin. Harold reluctantly confesses that he misses Krupp and George Beard decides it's time to push the button. Nothing happens, so the duo goes to Benjamin Krupps house. They ring the bell, only to find a stranger standing there, offering them a taco. Tacos The ask if Mr. Krupp's there and the man describes him in "may too much detail" (according to Harold). The man then explains the he rented his house to him before taking off. George asks where and the man retreats into the house and the sound of clattering can be heard while he is. He comes out and offers them a taco once again. George asks the same thing and the man goes back into the house, and clattering can be heard once again. Only this time, he comes back out with a pamphlet for the Fountain of Hair tour in Ecuador.

After reading the paper, George is surprised that Mr. Krupp would go that far just for hair, but then points out that maybe he thinks hair will make his life better. Harold guesses that they’ll be stuck with the Melvins, but George is determined to go to the jungle and get Mr. Krupp back. Harold asks how and George says that they’ll need to get more kids. Harold suggests muffins baskets to do it, and George adds a “A special issue comic!”, just as the same guy from earlier shows up in their treehouse.The duo make their new comic and show it to the other kids to form the M.I.S.F.A.R.T.S. from their comic with them. They promote Erica Wang to take the place of Thinks (due to her intelligence), Dressy Killman for Winks‘ (since she’s such an out-of-the-box thinker), Bo Hweemuth for Thumps’ (thanks to his size and strength), and Steve Yamaguchi for Codes’ (in spite of his complete and utter lack of tech skills). Jessica Gordon also insists on coming, despite not having a role to play in the team. The two then give the other kids fake overnight field trip forms for their parents to sign, so they can go to Ecuador without having anyone knowing. They then do a travel montage and arrive at a jungle in Ecuador.

Upon arrival, Harold comments that next time, they should skip the travel montage and just get plane tickets. George tries to use his phone to find the Hairani Village, only to find the signal’s out. Harold and Thumps try and the same thing happens. Codes tries but can’t tell if he has a signal or not. Winks interjects that the stars are her signal. Jessica panics, screaming that they’re lost and bursting into tears. Thinks redirects the team, pointing out that since people need water, they’ll find the village if they follow the river. Jessica compliments Sophie one’s har, while acknowledging Other Sophie’s looking like a ground sloth (which wasn’t really her. She had really crashed into the home of the Crocobats who took her in as their queen). As their walking, Dressy points out the numerous poisonous plants she learned about from her family's guide, Vorgondito, and George finds a stream of smoke in the sky, which Harold immediately associates this with barbecue, Thinks tries to correct him, but the others start calling out random things commonly associated with fire.

The kids all rush off into the jungle, only to find themselves trapped in a giant spider’s web. Thinks offers to help them as long as they promise to stay by the stream. The kids instantly accept, only for Mr. Krupp to suddenly swing in screaming “DAKOTA KRUPP NEVER GIVES UP!”, causing her to get trapped in the net before she could even do anything. The kids shout to Mr. Krupp that they’ve found him in unison, and he asks what they’re doing in the jungle. George replies that they were looking for him and asks if Dakota Krupp’s his maiden name. He responds that it’s his jungle name, and that the jungle’s where he feels alive. Harold unsuccessfully tries to persuade him to come back to the school, but Krupp tells them that the spiders around were as big as dogs.The team immediately begins to panic, until Other Sophie (actually a sloth comes into view. Jessica demands her to go get help, but she simply keeps on until getting stuck in the web as well. Jessica calls this “typical”, just as the web breaks, setting everyone free.

On the way to the Hairani village, George asks Krupp why he’s at Ecuador in the first place. Krupp responds that he emptied his bank account to get his hair back with the other baldies, and together they defeated the fountain’s guardian, Furculees. But when he buried his scalp in the fountain, nothing happened. While the others gave up, he believed that the “real fountain“ was out there somewhere, and even made a map dedicated to it. He screams that when he finds the fountain, his life will have purpose again, and all his problems will be instantly solved. He then continues taking them to the village. When they arrive, he introduces them to Chief Hairacoha, and tells them he learned their language when they adopted him. The chief denies both and offers them refreshments. He takes them into the hotel and the other kids are immediately hooked to it’s attractions. Chief Hairacocha them tells George and Harold that the entire fountain of hair legend was made to boast the number of tourists, and none of it was actually real, and all their visitors knew that, except Krupp. The latter then shouts that his bowl of guacamole (his fourth bowl that day) was almost out. The Chief asks the boys if they really came for “this man”, in which they respond that they want him to be their principal again since they’re new one is worse. The chief tells them his plane will take them anywhere they want as long as Krupp goes with them, only to see a sign for the gift shop now reading “Buy rare hyena farts here”. Mr. Krupp comes up to him, demanding a guacamole refill, only to do a long belch and saying that he just made room.

The gang is then able to convince Mr. Krupp that they’ve found the Fountain by disguising the plane in an attempt to take him back to the school. Unfortunately, it falls off right before Krupp can enter, leading him to believe they want the fountain for themselves. He screams they can’t have it and runs away from the plane, only to crash through a railing and into a river far down below. George insists for the M.I.S.F.A.R.T.S to chase after him, only to find Jessica and the Sophies were gone. Thinks tells them that they’re at the hotel, where they ”all should be cause it’s awesome”. The kids all get on a raft and go after Krupp, only to see a bunch of head that look just like him but for them all to be hippos. Bubbles appear in the water and Winks informs the others that Vorgondito told her about the river being full of piranhas. The ends of Harold and Codes’ paddles, as well as Thumps’ banjo are eaten off. Thinks’ spots Krupp and George tells him to get out of the water as the bubbles draw closer. He refuses and the piranhas begin biting him. He’s calm about it at first, but then begins to panic. Winks tosses a steak into the river, distracting the piranhas and saving Krupp.

George congratulates Winks, only to find she’s not there and has returned to the hotel, where she’s currently meditating. They start running after Mr. Krupp again, and George reminds everyone that they have to get him back before their parents get suspicious, since field trips don’t last forever. Thinks points out a candy bar wrapper on a tree, and they use it to find Krupp, ending up tackling him. George tries to reason with him, but he shushes him, telling the kids that they’re surronded. Suddenly, a horde of spear-carrying baboons leap out of no where and surround the gang. Thumps asks why did it have to be baboons, but Thinks points out that they’re staboons and are therefor highly aggressive and use pointed sticks as weapons. Thumps agrees that that’s worse. Mr. Krupp shouts “DAKOTA KRUPP NEVER GIVES UP!” again, only to do just that after the staboons roar in his face. The creatures advance on the five, when the sound of a cell phone ringing intervenes, which turns out to be Codes’. He starts rapidly pushing down on his phone, to no avail. Codes’ remarks that he never regretted his lack of tech skills til now, when the Melvin song starts playing. The staboons immediately take a liking to the song and begin dancing. Thumps shouts “Jungle March!”, but ends up accidentally punching a staboon after getting carried away. He apologizes, only for the staboons to flee the scene. Mr. Krupp runs off again, and the remaining three M.I.S.F.A.R.T.S. realize Thumps and Codes are gone. They are then shown playing virtual reality at the hotel.

As the trio follows Krupp, Harold wonders if the fountain of hair is actually real. George doubts it, and then thanks Thinks for not bailing on them. She tells them she hasn’t played her part yet. The boys remind her of all the parts she played on the mission, leading her to realize she had done her job and leaves for the hotel, and is then seen surfing with the ground sloth. George acknowledges the fact that they couldn’t have gone as far as they did without the help of each individual M.I.S.F.A.R.T. and Harold wishes they were looking for Krupp instead of them. The duo comes across Mr. Krupp’s hat, a sure sign that he’s close, but Harold accidentally steps on a stone that causes a giant metal ball to start rolling out of no where. The boys escape the ball by hiding in a bush, which takes them to a huge hair temple. Harold immediately associates Mr. Krupp to be inside. The two then hear his voice and head inside, where Mr. Krupp’s standing in awe by the fountain of hair.

He begins shouting about how his life will finally have purpose again, but George, believing it's a scam, says they should get it over with and go home. Harold points out that a real magical fountain would be guarded, and Krupp attempts to dunk his head in the water, only for the fountain to sink into the floor of the palace. Just then, a brown, furry monster with yellow, glowing eyes and a pair of horns appears. The boys scream and the monster hollers that it's Furcules, Guardian of the Fountain of Hair, and that this bad hair day would be their worst. George asks if he's real, and Furculees confirms it. Harold asks if he has an ID, a the monster begins rummaging around in its fur, looking for it. Eventually pulling out an expired wallet. The boys turn Krupp into Captain Underpants, who comments that "that bear needs a haircut", enraging Furculees who makes several hair puns before attacking Captain Underpants.

They begin fighting in Hair-o-rama, and Furculees overpowers the Captain. He wonders what shampoo he uses, which the monster replies with legendary locks. Captain Underpants asks if he ordered or bought it, and the monster responds with "ordered", but also tells him to stay still while he lifts a boulder to crush him. The beast throws the boulder but Captain Underpants dodges it, sending him sliding across the floor. Harold comments that they've gotta find Furculees' weakness, which George responds with "Hair. That's all he is." The boys demands Captain Underpants, which he refuses, claiming he'll get a penalty. Harold snaps at him if he wants to win or not. The latter says yes and immediately begins tugging at the monster's thick, brown hair, causing him to get to weak to carry the boulder. Captain Underpants drags the monster outside and continues ripping out his fur Furculees screams that it isn't fair, but the Captain denies it since the former's covered in hair, while he's nothing but bald.

George tells Captain Underpants to take Furculees to the river, and he grabs the beast and begins dragging him through the treetops. Eventually, Captain Underpants crashes into a palm tree which catapults the both of them into the river, turning him back into Krupp. The piranhas appear below them and attack, causing the two to leap right out and rush to the shore. Furculees, now bald, growls on how he needs hair to live as tears form in his eyes. Mr. Krupp says he'll go right back to the fountain after he gets his clothes back, and steps over the grieving monster. George and Harold pity Furculees and shout to Krupp if Dakota Krupp gives up on someone who's messed up. He considers this and agrees to help restore Furculees' hair. After the trio lower him into the Fountain, Harold says he hopes it works. Mr. Krupp begins stuttering that it has to work cause it needs too. It works and Furculees' fur and power are restored, at the cost Mr. Krupp's chance to get hair.

He breaks down into tears and George reminds the that he dosen't need hair for his life to have purpose and that it already did when he was their principal. Harold is about to explain the numerous reasons he should return to Piqua with them, but he makes up his mind before he can start. George reminds the former that if they hurry, they can get back the same time they were supposed to from their "field trip". Furculees asks the boys if they wanna hang out, adding that he can make tacos. When the same guy from earlier shows up, asking "Tacos?". The gang gets together for a photo (which ends up cutting off most of their heads) before leaving and accidentally taking the sloth instead of Other Sophie, who is left behind in the hands of the crocobats, where she is crowned queen.

Trivia

 * This is the first appearance of the MISFARTS.
 * Other Sophie becomes stranded in a jungle as the new queen of the Croc-O-Bats for the next few episodes, until The Bizarre Blitzkrieg of the Bothersome Butt-erflies, and the kids bring back a tree sloth instead, mistaking it for Other Sophie.
 * Other Sophie and Stanley Peet are the only M.I.S.F.A.R.T.S. members who did not join the adventure to bring back Mr. Krupp.
 * When Other Sophie yawns after waking up and realizing she's with a bunch of croc-o-bats at the end, her voice is briefly heard.
 * This episode contains numerous references to the Indiana Jones movies: During the 'travel montage', the vehicles the characters travel in are shown moving on a world map, similar to the travel sequences in Indiana Jones. Also, Mr Krupp now calls himself 'Dakota Krupp', an obvious parody of Indiana Jones. Later in the episode, Bo says "Baboons, why'd it have to be baboons?!!", a reference to Indys' famous "why'd it have to be snakes" line. Lastly, George and Harold are chased by a giant rolling boulder, similar to the opening of the Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
 * Furcules gaining his power from his fur, and losing it once his hair is gone, is similar to the story of Samson from the Bible.
 * Captain Underpants returns as Harold and George's main superhero due to him not showing up in the previous episode The Tenuous Takedown of the Tyrannical Teachertrons, except for the intro, which is why he had Sergeant Boxers as his replacement.
 * This is the first episode Jessica says hair correctly instead of "har" when everyone gets their picture taken at the end.
 * When the kids get their picture taken at the end of this episode, the photographer tells them to say "hair", and the sloth as Other Sophie's replacement is seen saying it too, even though animals can't talk.