“ | A true luchador knows, the only thing to fear is fear itself. Oh, and bullies. | ” |
— Rikochet
|
"Back to School" is the first segment of the 1st episode in the first season of ¡Mucha Lucha!. It premiered on August 17, 2002, on Kids' WB and March 5, 2004, on Cartoon Network.
Synopsis[]
It's the first day of the new year at The Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha, and our hero, Rikochet comes up against the strict bias of the very stern Headmistress. In the world of learning to be a Luchador, it's ONE, TWO, THREE FALLS, YOU'RE OUT! Things aren't looking too bueno for our hombrito.
Plot[]
The series begins with Rikochet, in a nightmare ring, preparing to fight the mysterious bull-like wrestler. El Toro Amarillo starts running towards him and Rikochet, scared, defends himself. As he is about to be rammed by El Toro Amarillo, Rikochet wakes up in his bedroom. While the alarm clock rings, El Rey angrily tells Rikochet to turn off the alarm and get up. Rikochet grabs the clock and wrestles it by punching the alarm clock. Then, jumps on the bed and pounces the clock and launches from one ring to another, in which he tackles it and counts. After counting, Rikochet successfully turns off the alarm clock and declares himself as the winner. Mama Maniaca calls Rikochet to get moving as he doesn’t want to be late to school. Then, Rikochet jumps and does a heroic pose. He grabs El Rey and puts him in his backpack.
As Mama packed his lunch, Rikochet ran into the kitchen, grabbed his lunch and sat at the table with Abuelito, eating donuts. Abuelito advises him to remember the Code of Lucha Libre: Honor, Family, Traditions, and Donuts.
Outside of Rikochet’s house, he and Masked Dog threw out the garbage into the trash can. However, The Flea pops out of the trash can and greets him. Rikochet warns Flea to stay out of his trash can and they walk off the walkway.
At the bus stop, the three masked students are sitting on the bench, waiting for the bus to arrive. While waiting, Buena Girl does 1,000 push-ups by pushing the bench up and down and then, she sees Rikochet, The Flea, and Masked Dog arriving at the bus stop. While Buena Girl exaggerates to them, the bus arrives where the three masked students get on the bus, leaving The Three Mascaritas and Masked Dog behind.
Meanwhile, The Three Mascaritas and Masked Dog ran as quickly as they could before the first day of school starts. Running through the streets, they eventually arrive at The Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha and slide through the door before it closes as they made it on time. Rikochet, determined, bumps into Headmistress and becomes scared as he sees her. Headmistress angrily warns him that the school is her property, then becomes sweet as she introduces him to the School of Lucha. Headmistress gives Rikochet 3 faults and he’s out of school. Although it was only his first warning, Headmistress nicely lets Rikochet go to class.
In the classroom, there are masked students sitting down at their desk. In front of the classroom, Sr. Midcarda arrives at his desk and whistles. He introduces some of the rules of the classroom and calls roll as each student stands, starting from Rikochet. Most student’s names are called by him as they pose, ending with Masked Dog, who is at the top of his desk and gives him fist bumps. Sr. Midcarda expects masked students to learn and teaches them the first lesson. As Rikochet writes down the notes, he notices that Potato Patata Jr. is eating his lunch from his lunch bag. Then, Potato Patata Jr. grabs Rikochet, puts him in a lunch bag, throws him across the classroom as it breaks Sr. Midcarda’s pointer stick. Sr. Midcarda angrily calls him out for his behavior and sends whimpering Rikochet, still in the lunch bag, to the Headmistress' office.
At the hallway, Rikochet, Snow Pea, and El Guapo are sitting in the benches, waiting for their names to be called by the Headmistress. El Guapo was the first to enter her office, but they were scared to watch. Snow Pea was next to be called, and he entered the office. As he watched him from her office, Rikochet was called to enter her office. As he sits in a higher chair, waiting for the Headmistress, he looks around her office. Then, Headmistress appears next to him and gave him his second of his third fault, so she throws a book at him to read, in which she explains that every student is required to read, in order to follow the rules. She then goes to the announcer’s microphone to announce that “masked wrestling is not a sport, nor an entertainment, but it’s the way of life and it is part of honor, family, and traditions” and Rikochet interrupts her. Although the Headmistress tells him to make himself worthy of a luchador, he warns him that if he makes one more fault, he would be kicked out from the School of Lucha.
Back in the classroom, the three students hold Sr. Midcarda asks the students to tell what they did on their summer vacation, or they will be benched. Rikochet, holding The Code of Masked Wrestling, arrives back to the classroom, as Sr. Midcarda whistles for time. When he tells Rikochet to take his seats, he looks at Potato Patata Jr. at the back of the classroom and looks at him angrily. Rikochet notices that he is sitting in his seat with two chairs. He then stands up and pushes two chairs out of the way before pushing him across the classroom. Buena Girl and The Flea help him out before El Rey pops out of his backpack and tells him that he’s been disgraced from his honor and family. With Rikochet feeling overwhelmed with his experience, many voices from the floating heads pop up through his guilt.
Then, Rikochet, now determined, prepares to have a match with Potato Patata Jr. Zero Kelvin shouts “LUCHARAAAN” and pushes the lever to release the school’s wrestling ring. With other students and the crowds watching, Potato Patata Jr. uses “One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four” as he turns into a french fry cyclops. Rikochet, then turns into a “Spinning Top” and both of their signature moves collide, resulting in them being thrown to the corner. Before Rikochet gets up, Potato Patata Jr. elbow punches him to the rope and falls flat. Potato Patata Jr. starts running towards him as he scaredly defends himself. However, Rikochet trips him over and holds his arms and legs. When Potato Patata Jr. taps out, Flea puts a donut on the floor of the ring and his face is smashed and smothered from the cream donut as Flea thought it was a good thing to do.
With everyone cheering for Rikochet, the Headmistress shows up in the classroom. As Rikochet tells the truth, he explains that he only wrestled Potato Patata Jr. to defend his honor and to be part of the masked wrestling, thanks to the voices around his head. Headmistress congratulates him for his honor in the match and for keeping it that way. The Flea gives Rikochet a donut for being a champion, then Rikochet asks him where he got a box of dozen donuts from, and he told him that he borrowed the donuts from the Headmistress’ office. Headmistress questions where her donuts are and Rikochet spits a piece of donut on his head.
Characters[]
- The Three Mascaritas
- El Rey
- Masked Dog (debut)
- Abuelito (debut)
- Mama Maniaca
- Potato Patata Jr.
- Mr. Midcarda
- Headmistress (debut)
- Masked Dog (debut)
- Megawatt (debut)
- Penny Plutonium (debut)
- Minotoro
- Double Ninja Ninja
- El Loco Mosquito
- Francisco of the Forest (debut)
- Zero Kelvin (debut)
- French Twist (debut)
- El Perrito (debut)
- Cindy Slam (debut)
- Sonic Sumo (debut)
- Snow Pea (debut)
- El Guapo (debut)
- Protozoa (debut)
- Pierre Del Fuego (debut)
- Dragonfly (debut)
- Tic Tac Toe (debut)
- El Toro Amarillo (debut; dream)
- Masked School Bus Driver (debut)
- Smiley-Faced Luchador (debut; Rikochet's thought bubble)
- Orange Sea Creature-themed Luchador (debut; audience)
- Pink Insect Luchador (debut; audience)
- Green, Yellow-Spotted Luchador (debut; audience)
- Pumpkin-themed Luchador (debut; audience)
- Green with Yellow-Spotted Luchador (debut; audience)
- Green Eye-themed Luchador (debut; audience)
Transcript[]
Click here to view the script.
Gallery[]
Click here to visit Back to School's Gallery!
Trivia[]
- "Back to School" was originally paired with "How Rikochet Got His Move Back" segment. In Heart of Lucha! (DVD & VHS), this episode was listed with "How Rikochet Got His Move Back", but it was paired with "Weight Gaining" instead.
- Rikochet is the first character to speak in the series besides his statement during the title card sequence.
- Most posters and objects on the floor in Rikochet's bedroom are reused from the original pilot.
- This episode takes place in the first day of school with Rikochet, Buena Girl, The Flea, and other students attending school.
- The scene with Mr. Midcarda taking a roll call is similar to the Lucha School pilot, but with new characters except for Rikochet, Buena Girl, The Flea, Double Ninja Ninja, Minotoro, El Loco Mosquito, and Potato Potata Jr. as they have appeared in the pilot with different names and designs.
- Potato Patata Jr. would be the first character to develop a signature and turning into an object before Rikochet uses his signature move to transform.
- Rikochet uses Spinning Top as his signature moves for the first time.
Goofs[]
- During the roll call, Sr. Midcarda calls everyone except for El Perrito when everyone was sitting on their desk.
- While Potato Patata Jr. is tripped by Rikochet, he runs, but the next scene shows him pinning when it doesn't show him jumping and pinning him.
Videos[]
References[]