Tourist Trapped

"Tourist Trapped"
Gravity Falls episode
Dipper discovers a hidden journal documenting the paranormal side of the town
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	John Aoshima
Written by	Alex Hirsch
Production code	618G-107[1]
Original air date	June 15, 2012 (2012-06-15)
Episode chronology
← Previous — Next → "The Legend of the Gobblewonker"
List of Gravity Falls episodes

"Tourist Trapped" is the first episode of the animated television series Gravity Falls. In the episode, twins Dipper (voiced by Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines (voiced by Kristen Schaal) arrive in Gravity Falls, Oregon, to stay with their great uncle Stan (voiced by series creator Alex Hirsch) at his tourist trap, the Mystery Shack. But when Dipper discovers a hidden journal documenting the paranormal side of the town, he begins to believe that his twin-sister was dating a zombie.

The episode was written by series creator Alex Hirsch. Directed by John Aoshima, "Tourist Trapped" premiered on Disney Channel on June 15, 2012, airing immediately after the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine.^[2]

Plot summary

The episode starts with Dipper and Mabel speeding on a golf cart and being chased by a big monster. However, Dipper rewinds the episode to the part where the twin's parents bring them to Gravity Falls, Oregon where their great uncle Stan lives, who runs the Mystery Shack. Dipper was anxious of spending his entire summer in a "bogus" place, but one day when he was hanging signs, he enters the paranormal side of Gravity Falls where finds a rusty machine which opens a secret compartment where Dipper finds a book that has a golden hand with the number 3 on it and starts reading it. Dipper realizes that Gravity Falls is filled with magical creatures. As he hears that Mabel has a date with her new boyfriend Norman, Dipper thinks Norman is a zombie and starts catching them on film. Mabel,once again, has another date with Norman and when they are alone, Norman shows who he really is; not a zombie or a vampire(which Mabel wants her boyfriend to be), but a gnome named Jeff with other gnomes. Mabel rejected him since her boyfriend wasn't a vampire, they had to kidnap her. Meanwhile, as Dipper watches the video he took, he finds a part of the video where Mabel's boyfriend's hand falls off and Dipper borrows a golf cart to find his sister. He saw that Mabel was abducted by gnomes and rescues her. Angered, Jeff calls the gnomes to form a giant gnome to capture Mabel. As the twins reach the Mystery Shack, the gnomes find them. Mabel tells Jeff that she will marry him, but it turns out to be a trick. She grabs a leaf blower and blows away the gnomes. Dipper tells Mabel to stop being boy crazy, and she and agrees. As they begin to sleep, the episode ends with Stan entering a hidden room behind the vending machine and a gnome puking rainbows.

Production and Broadcasting

"Tourist Trapped" was written by series creator Alex Hirsch and directed by John Aoshima with storyboards by Matt Braly, Erik Fountain, Mark Garcia, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, and Niki Yang. The episode premiered on June 15, 2012 on Disney Channel in the United States, serving as a special preview of the series. Its premiere immediately followed the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine. The episode's premiere was seen by close to 3.4 million viewers.^[2] It got 267,000 viewers when it premiered in the UK and Ireland on July 20, 2012.^[3]

Reception

Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club gave "Tourist Trapped" a B+ rating, praising its "mature" feel in comparison to other animated series for children (bringing inspiration from The Simpsons, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks), the show's art style, along with the use of its paranormal themes for comedy: specifically citing a scene where Mabel is seen hoping that her "zombie" boyfriend Norman was a vampire (playing off the popularity of the Twilight series), followed by the "wonderfully absurd" reveal that Norman was actually a group of gnomes. However, the remainder of the episode was criticised for being too reliant on "random" humor. Wilkins also praised Kristen Schaal for her performance as Mabel; stating that the character had "the same gleeful lack of restraint and propensity for violence (at least when it comes to punching gnomes) that Schaal brings to Louise Belcher, with the crucial difference being that she’s not a complete sociopath." Wilkins felt that Mabel was a "a goofy, happy-go-lucky preteen" with a level of enthusiasm that helped support many of the gags surrounding her in the episode, and that she acted within the mindset of an actual 12-year-old in her dialogue as well. Jason Ritter's performance as Dipper was also praised for giving the character a panicked and suspicious view on the world around him, but it was noted that his voice sounded too old to be a 12 year-old.^[4]

"Tourist Trapped" received two nominations for the 40th Annie Awards, including Ian Worrel for Best Production Design in a Television/Broadcast Production, and Kristen Schaal for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production.^[5]

References

External links

• Tourist Trapped at the Internet Movie Database
• Tourist Trapped on Gravity Falls Wiki, an external wiki