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A Hot Bath (あなた！お風呂がわいたよ！)
ElamenSTAR (R) Episode 214
Aired 13th September, 1997
Summary
A voyeuristic Bathtub Furniliar, oh my! The Wizbits return to their homes to consult with their teachers on how they might find "the heart of the world;" Zula arrives home first and finds that her bathtub has been Transchanted, and it's got a crush on her! Can she help the misguided Furniliar understand the difference between "like" and "love?" She'd better be quick, because her powers over air can't save her from wrinkly fingers... or the hungry drain!
Notes
Incidentally, this episode was completely translated into English and had all the voicework done prior to James Langomedes' "incident" on 2 April 2004. It is rumored that his planned replacement, upon viewing some of the pre-production storyboarding and the animation cels which had been brought in for "reimagining," immediately quit, destroying the one chance the producers were willing to give a "post-Langomedes" continuation of The Wizbits Cartoon. It is unknown whether this episode played any part in Langomedes' mental breakdown.
Although the ElamenSTAR saga did not bother with morals, the moral James Langomedes had slated for the end of this episode dealt with teaching children the difference between "good touch" and "bad touch," as rendered in disturbing detail by the Bathtub Furniliar's various interactions with Zula. This was reminiscent of the various "Very Special" U.S. sitcom episodes in the 80's that creeped everyone out despite the writers' good intentions.
As a Zula-focused episode, "A Hot Bath" features the other Wizbits only briefly.
Comments
| IIRC, it is also the only episode in which Zula never appears fully clothed. |
| Perv. Is there anything about ElotH:TES that doesn't have some barely-repressed undercurrent of overtly deviant sexuality? ~Crusader |
| Don't blame us, we're just putting it down as we remember it. Take it up with Brahe and Langomedes and the other creators of the material. |
| Although many of the canonical shortcomings of Bathtub Furniliars were accurately depicted in this episode, purists complain at some length that this episode downplayed the deep tragedy of Bathtub Furniliars by oversimplifying their plight. The ending was considered particularly offensive when Zula "helped" the Furniliar by acknowledging its "crush" on her and explaining that while she couldn't requite the Bathtub's "love," she would still like to be its friend. ~Kenneth Pike |
| I remember seeing this episode, my older brother got it off of Usenet or something. I was like 10, I wouldn't take a bath for two weeks after this one. |
| Yeah, the fangs and tentacles and the cultist chanting kind of put me off when I was wee. -Jute Mill |
| I missed this episode, how exactly was the bathtub transchanted in the first place? |
| I don't remember the tub getting transchanted, actually. The trouble with semi-canonical cartoon adaptations is that they don't bother with a lot of exposition. It is assumed that someone transchanted the bathtub at some point, but for the purposes of the episode Zula gets in for a soak and the thing starts chatting it up... insofar as a mentally deficient Bathtub Furniliar is capable. ~Kenneth Pike |
| It was a kind of a commentary on Japanese culture--some creepy guy in sunglasses and a surgical mask as a stand-in for all those lonely otaku males who probably have a Serafina Real Life Size Interactive Love Doll. -Jute Mill |
| Indeed. ~Kenneth Pike |
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