Muffy sits in an office dressed as a businesswoman and talks on the phone.
Muffy: 1,000 Happy Hamster Mansions by Friday? Sure, we can handle that. Thank you for your business.
She hangs up and faces the camera.
Muffy: Oh, hello. I'm Muffy Crosswire, president of Skywire Industries. You're probably wondering how a charming little eight-year-old started this huge company.
The outside of the Skywire Tower is shown. Francine comes in wearing a suit.
Francine: Are you giving the interview without me? She didn't tell you she started this company, did she?
Muffy: Well, it's the truth.
Francine: No way! I was the inspiration behind the whole thing.
Muffy: Was not!
Buster comes in, followed by George. They show a poster.
Buster: Hey, guys. We have our next big product... inflatable dog houses.
George: "When you take a dip, bring the Skywire dog ship."
Buster: Oh, an interview. Hi. Buster Baxter here, chief inventor.
George: Chief inventor? What do you mean? I designed our first product.
Buster: But only because I asked you to.
Francine: Quit fighting! You're making my company look bad.
Buster: It's not your company. It's our company.
Francine: What are you talking about?
Buster: It says in the charter...
Francine: None of this would exist if it weren't for me... we all have an equal share.
Buster: Equal shares!
George: It was my design that put us on the map!
While the others argue, Muffy faces the camera.
Muffy: Don't listen to them. I'm the brains behind Skywire Industries and I can prove it to you. Just watch.
~~~
Title Card: Mr. Langley and Buster build a birdhouse
~~~
Mr. Langley sits at a table in front of the Shady Pines retirement home. There are two plates with sandwiches in front of him. Buster visits him with a basket full of vegetables.
Buster: Reporting for lunch, Colonel Langley.
Mr. Langley: At ease, Private Baxter. Grab a stump.
Buster: I brought you some greens from the Community Garden.
Mr. Langley: Hallelujah! The cook in this retirement home thinks ketchup counts as a vegetable.
He examines a cabbage leaf.
Mr. Langley: Well, peel my parsnips, they're back.
Buster: Who's back?
Mr. Langley: See these holes? That's the work of the cabbage butterfly.
Buster: What's a cabbage butterfly?
Mr. Langley: The sneakiest garden pest north of the Rio Bravo. It was years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
Flashback: Mr. Langley works in the garden. He examines a cabbage leaf and finds a caterpillar.
Mr. Langley (narrator): I had just staked the tomatoes, when I noticed one. Looked innocent, cute even. Then, I saw what he was doing to my cabbages. Before I knew it, he had called for reinforcements.
A swarm of butterflies descends on the garden to the sound of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’.
Mr. Langley (narrator): The garden was swarming with them. It was a full-scale invasion.
Flashback: Mr. Langley reads a book on bugs in the library.
Mr. Langley (narrator): I tried every remedy I could find.
Flashback: Mr. Langley sprays a liquid on the cabbages.
Mr. Langley (narrator): Nothing worked.
Mr. Langley drops a ruined cabbage head. Butterflies are everywhere.
Mr. Langley: No! No! (sobs)
The flashback ends.
Mr. Langley: My beautiful garden was being turned into a rotting pile of compost, and there was nothing I could do.
Buster: What happened?
Mr. Langley: The purple martin saved the day.
Buster: The Purple Martin? Is that a superhero? Do we call him on the purple phone?
Mr. Langley: It's a bird, swallow, to be precise, and it likes to eat cabbage butterflies. You and I have to build a birdhouse, Private Baxter. The fate of the garden depends on it.
~~~
Muffy rings Francine’s doorbell and hands her a small blue box.
Muffy: Happy birthday!
Francine: My birthday isn't for another three months.
Muffy: I know. I was going to save it, but I think you should have it now.
Francine opens the box in the living room and finds a bracelet with an odd pink head on it. She looks skeptical. Muffy presents an identical bracelet.
Muffy: Ta-da! Now, we can be bracelet twins! Put it on!
Francine: Do I have to? It looks like a creature is growing out of your wrist.
Muffy: Oh, come on. You could use a little flair.
Francine: Hey, it's really stretchy. I betcha I can hit that apple.
She aims at a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.
Muffy: Francine, no! You're going to...
She bracelet snaps.
Francine: Oops.
Muffy: Well, that's last time I buy you a before-your-birthday birthday present!
Francine: I'm really sorry. I'll fix it.
As she picks up the bracelet, Nemo grabs it.
Francine: Nemo, let go. Nemo!
Muffy: Bad kitty! No playing with high fashion.
Nemo runs away with the bracelet and plays with it under Francine’s bed.
Francine: Weird. I've never seen Nemo so into a toy before.
Muffy: It's not a toy! Or... is it? Hey, did you see this month's issue of Mini Mogul Magazine?
Francine: I think mine was lost in the mail.
Muffy takes a magazine out of her backpack and shows it to Francine.
Muffy: Well, the cover story was all about this guy who built a business selling dog toys.
Francine "From Wags to Riches: The Buck Benders Story." What does this have to do with us?
Muffy: What if we've just stumbled upon a great invention? We could start our own company.
Francine: Cat toys? You really think those would sell?
Nemo is still playing with the bracelet.
Muffy: There's your proof.
Nemo throws the bracelet across the room.
Muffy: Ooh!
Nemo runs after the bracelet. The girls grin at each other.
~~~
In the Community Garden, Mr. Langley and Buster look at a plan for a purple martin birdhouse. They saw wood and build a multistorey birdhouse, which they then paint white and green. Eventually, they raise it on a wooden pole in the middle of the garden.
Mr. Langley: Nice work, Baxter.
Buster: I wish I was a purple martin. It looks so cozy.
Mr. Langley: Thunderation! I gotta go. I'm the bingo caller tonight. There's one last thing to do. Put four bolts in the base to secure it. Can I count on you?
Buster: Yes, Sir.
He salutes and Mr. Langley leaves whistling. Buster searches the toolbox.
Buster: Hmm. No ratchet. Hmm...
He leaves without putting the bolts in the holes.
~~~
Buster goes home and finds a ratchet in a kitchen drawer. The phone rings.
Buster: Oh, hey, Arthur. Guess what I did today.
~~~
Muffy is taking notes in the Frenskys’ living room while Francine holds a kind of fishing rod with a cat toy at the end.
Francine: Finished with model number six?
Muffy: Yep. let's test it out.
Francine makes Nemo jump for the toy while using a stopwatch.
Muffy: Hmm. I'd say he's jumping about three feet. That's the highest he's gone so far.
Nemo snatches the toy off the string and runs away with it.
Francine: Wow. And he ran away with it in four seconds - his best time yet.
Muffy: I think we found ourselves a winner.
Francine: What should we call it?
Muffy: Something that says cute but lively.
Francine: What if it was a combination of our names? Like the Fruffy.
Muffy: I love it! Our company will be... Frenscross. No... Skywire. That sounds better.
Francine: Skywire Industries. Yeah.
Muffy: Watch out, Buck Benders. There's a new player in the pet toy business.
~~~
The next morning, Buster walks into the kitchen in his pajamas.
Buster: Hey, mom. Boy, that was some storm we had last night. I could hardly sleep with that howling wind and...
He sees the ratchet.
Buster: Hh! Oh, I forgot to put the bolts in the base of the birdhouse!
He runs out.
~~~
A while later, Buster and Arthur stand in the garden. The pole has tipped over and the birdhouse is broken. There are butterflies flying around the cabbages.
Buster: Oh, it's ruined! What am I gonna do?
Arthur: I guess you'd better call Fritz.
Buster: I can't tell Fritz! He gave me a direct order and I didn't follow it. You don't do that to Fritz Langley. I'll, uh... I'll just build another one.
Arthur: You can't build that.
Buster: Why not? I remember everything he told me: Measure once, cut twice. No, wait, that might be wrong. Okay, I'll just, uh... I'll make a different birdhouse. Don't worry, cabbages!! Buster's gonna save you!
~~~
Muffy and Francine stand in a pet store.
Store Owner: A cat toy, huh? Sorry, I got a million of 'em.
Francine: But you don't have the Fruffy.
She swings the prototype.
Store Owner: The Fruffy? It sounds like a non-dairy dessert topping.
Muffy: Forget the name. This product is guaranteed to make the laziest of felines go wild with excitement.
Store Owner: Oh, really? Let's see if you can get a reaction out of Potato.
Potato, a big fat orange cat sleeps on a chair. The girls look taken aback.
Francine dangles the Fruffy in front of Potato’s nose.
Francine: Come on, Potato. Play with the Fruffy.
Muffy: What on earth do you feed him? Other cats?
Francine: Please, Potato, I'm begging you. Give me a sign. Do something.
Potato meows and barely moves one of its front legs.
Francine: That's it??
Store Owner: Actually, that's a lot for him. He hasn't done that since he was a kitten. Okay, I'll take 30 by Friday. We split the profits 50-50.
Muffy: Deal.
She grabs the man’s hand and shakes it.
~~~
The girls stand outside the store.
Francine: How can we make 30 Fruffies by Friday? It took us almost the whole day just to make one.
Muffy: We'll just have to step up our production.
She takes out her phone.
Muffy: Daddy? I have a business proposition for you.
~~~
In the garden, Buster fastens the bolts on the pole. On top of it is a treehouse made of cardboard and duct tape.
Buster: There. It's... not so bad. Purple martins, your house is ready!
~~~
Later, it rains. Buster sits by the toolshed with an umbrella. The birdhouse melts.
Buster: Hh! What?! No! Oh, it's melting. I guess using cardboard wasn't such a good idea.
He sees a cabbage leaf with a caterpillar.
Buster: You may have won this round, but I'm not through!
~~~
Buster rings George’s doorbell with a box of assorted things.
Buster: I have seven dollars and sixty-five cents, half a salami and a flashlight that works if you shake it. Will you build me a birdhouse?
George: Got any mustard?
Buster takes a mustard sachet out of his pants pocket.
George: Okay.
Buster: Yes!
~~~
Muffy and Francine stand in Mr. Crosswire’s office.
Muffy: But all I want is one small little factory.
Mr. Crosswire: Sorry, muffin, no can do.
Francine: Well, could you lend us some of your employees? It's just till Friday.
Mr. Crosswire: Don't get me wrong, I think it's great what you two are doing. Reminds me of when I sold used inline skates as a kid. But business is all about problem-solving and determination. You have to figure a way out on your own.
~~~
Francine and Muffy sit on the stairs in front of the Crosswire mansion.
Francine: Well, it looks like that might be the end of Skywire Industries.
Muffy: No, we can't give up!
Francine: But...
Muffy: Francine, we have a purpose. This city is filled with bored, overweight cats, and, by golly, we are going to amuse them! Now, let's roll up our sleeves and make some Fruffies!
~~~
Part 2
~~~
Buster dreams that he is walking through a field of giant carrots.
Buster: Where am I? I wonder if this is an alien planet. Whoa, that is some carrot.
He bites into one.
Buster: Mmm.
He sees a soap bubble floating by.
Buster: Fritz!
Nearby, Mr. Langley sits on a mushroom. He has a caterpillar’s body and instead of smoking a hookah, he blows bubbles.
Mr. Langley: Who are you?
Buster: Huh? It's me, Private Baxter. Hey, you look a little different. Did you get a haircut?
Mr. Langley: Private Baxter? Oh, yes, I remember you... the kid who ruined the garden.
Buster: Well, it's not completely ruined. I just passed a huge carrot.
Mr. Langley: It wasn't huge. You're just small, like me. Three inches, to be precise.
Buster: I'm only three inches tall?!
Mr. Langley: What's wrong with three inches? It's a very good height, indeed.
Buster: How did I shrink?
Mr. Langley: The cabbage butterfly took over the place and infected all the vegetables. One bite turns you into a caterpillar.
Buster: Oh, no! I'm feeling squirmy! Ah!
Buster’s lower body turns into a caterpillar.
Buster: Purple martins, come save us!
Mr. Langley: No, you don't want to call them now! They'll think we're lunch!
The shadow of a bird falls on them. A purple martin swoops down.
Buster+Mr. Langley: Augh!!
The dream ends. Buster wakes up in bed.
Buster: Hh!
~~~
George and Buster stand in the garden and look at a building plan.
George: I thought it'd be nice to have multiple little houses sort of spread out like a city.
Buster: This is amazing. I love it. How long will it take to build?
George: Hmm... About a month.
Buster: A month? The garden will be destroyed by then. I might even have turned into a caterpillar.
George: Well, I didn't take this job to build any old birdhouse. Maybe you should find someone else.
Buster: No. Please? You're all I've got. I just need it by Friday. I'll throw in another salami.
George: I don't want your luncheon meat. I wanna make something beautiful.
Buster: Okay, okay, you can make whatever you want. Just keep it simple?
George: (sighs) Okay.
He leaves.
~~~
Francine sits on the living room floor building Fruffies. Nemo jumps at one.
Francine: Nemo, you're not helping!
Muffy: Here's more supplies.
Francine: I've made three Fruffies so far, but my fingers are cramping up. And our assistant keeps stealing the merchandise.
Muffy: I'll take over. You can unpack.
Francine takes a bill out of the bag Muffy brought.
Francine: Wow, you spent a lot!
Muffy: Francine, our Fruffies are made with only the finest materials. Skywire Industries has a reputation to maintain.
Francine: Yeah, but how much will we have to charge to make a profit?
Muffy: Oh... I hadn't thought of that.
She uses a calculator.
Muffy: Let's see. Raw materials, labor, fifty percent mark-up, plus the pet store's cut. Uh... about 22 dollars per Fruffy.
Francine: 22 dollars?? Who's gonna pay 22 dollars for a cat toy?!
Muffy: Hmm. We can say they're deluxe, one-of-a-kind, signed by the artist.
Francine: Uh... what artist?
Muffy: Picatso.
Francine: There's no such person! That's false advertising.
Muffy: Well, work with me here. We have to do something! Oh! Why didn't we think of this earlier?
Catherine comes in with a pink vase.
Catherine: You better clean all this up before Mom and Dad get home. I want it to look nice in here.
Francine: Is it some special occasion?
Catherine: No, I just want to show off our new vase.
She places the vase on the coffee table.
Francine: Where'd you get that?
Catherine: I designed it and printed it on my school's 3D printer. They're so cool. You can make anything on them.
She leaves the room.
Muffy: Wait a minute. That's it!
Francine: What's it?
Muffy: The 3D printer at Catherine's school. We can print the Fruffies on it. It'll be so much cheaper.
Francine: Yeah, but there's one problem with that idea.
Muffy: What?
Francine: We'd have to work with Catherine. What makes you think she'll help us?
Muffy looks thoughtful.
~~~
Shortly afterwards, Catherine is lying on her bed checking her cell phone.
Muffy: You seem like a shrewd businesswoman, so we'd like to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime.
Catherine: Businesswomen? I wanna be a designer. That's why I'm going to a CTE school.
Muffy: What's that?
Catherine: It stands for "career and technical education."
Francine: It's a high school where you also learn the skills you need for jobs, like construction, culinary arts or fashion design.
Muffy: So, you can still be a designer, but you'll be a rich one.
Catherine: You can save your breath. I'm not interested in going into a cat toy business with you two.
She leaves the room.
Francine: I know I'm gonna regret this.
Catherine takes a drink out of the refrigerator.
Francine: I'll do all your chores for a month.
Catherine: What?
Francine: Okay, two months. That's my final offer. Please? We really want this.
Catherine: Meet me after school tomorrow.
Francine pats Muffy’s shoulder.
Catherine: Oh, and you can start by changing Nemo's litter box for me.
Nemo smiles smugly as he steps out of the litter box. Francine looks unhappy.
~~~
Buster knocks on the door of the Lundgrens’ workshop.
Buster: George, are you in there? George, open up!
The door opens a bit and Wally peeps out.
Buster: Oh, hi, Wally. is George in there?
Wally: George is very busy right now. Can I take a message?
Buster: Will you ask him if the birdhouse will be ready soon? I'm visiting Fritz tomorrow and I'd like to tell him the garden will be okay.
Wally: George says He's working as fast as he can and these interruptions don't help. But, uh... did you bring any snacks?
Buster takes out a packet of snacks and Wally takes it.
Wally: Thank you for your business.
He takes the snacks and the door closes.
~~~
Catherine, Francine and Muffy stand in front of a computer in the CTE school’s workshop. The screen shows the head-like part of a Fruffy.
Catherine: First, we design what we want on the computer using 3D modelling software.
Francine: It needs to have more wiggly hairs.
Catherine selects the hair and enlarges it.
Muffy: Ooh, and make the eyes bigger.
Catherine enlarges the eyes.
Catherine fills a pink substance into the 3D printer.
Catherine: Next, we make sure the printer is loaded. This printer uses plastic, but other ones use wax, steel, sometimes even chocolate. Now, here's the really exciting part.
She turns the printer on.
Catherine: We start printing.
The printer creates a Fruffy part.
Francine+Muffy: Wow!
~~~
Shortly afterwards, Francine and Muffy are attaching the Fruffy heads to the fishing rods.
Catherine: Okay. that's the first batch: 15 Fruffies. We'll have to do another round later. That's all the time I have on the printer today.
Francine: Let's get to the pet store right away.
Muffy: Great idea. I bet they'll all sell out before the weekend.
~~~
Buster walks into the garden which is now in a sorry state. He picks the only intact cabbage head.
Buster: (sighs) This is it... the very last cabbage.
He puts it in a basket. His phone rings.
Buster: Hello?
George (on phone): It's ready.
Buster: Hh! I'll be right over!
~~~
Buster and George stand outside the Lundrens’ workshop.
George: You asked for simple, so I made it simpler.
Buster: Great, great.
George: I would have liked to put in a few balconies, maybe even a slide.
Buster: Just show it to me already.
George: Behold, the Lundgren bird city.
A big wooden construction made up of several wooden little houses stands on a table.
Buster: Oh... It's amazing. It's much larger than I thought it would be.
George: Yeah. My dad and I kind of got carried away. In fact, we couldn't even lift it.
Buster: What?! How will we attach it to the top of the pole?
George: Um... I could build a smaller one. It'll only take five days.
Buster: It'll be too late by then.
~~~
In front of the retirement home, Buster shows Mr. Langley the last cabbage from the garden.
Buster: Colonel Langley, I hereby resign my post as Community Gardener. Take me to the stockade.
He holds out his hands to be handcuffed.
Mr. Langley: Sweet sassafras, what in the blazes are you talking about, Baxter?
Buster: Well, it all started when I forgot to put those bolts in like you told me.
Skip to a few minutes later.
Buster: And now, it's all ruined. That cabbage is all that's left. I'm really sorry.
Mr. Langley: Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed. But buck up, son. We'll just start a new garden.
~~~
The pet store owner is reading when Francine places a box full of Fruffies in front of him.
Store Owner: Huh?
Francine: Here's the first half of the order. You'll have the second half by tomorrow.
Store Owner: Oh, right, the Frumpy. Sorry, but I just got a shipment in of these.
He shows the girls a toy that looks just like a Fruffy.
Muffy: Hh!
Francine: It's the exact same design as the Fruffy.
Muffy: Someone stole our idea!
Store Owner: Sorry to break it to you, but I think it was just a coincidence.
He shows them the cover of a Mini Mogul Magazine showing Buck Benders with a Fruffy.
Muffy: "Creating the Purrfect Cat Toy. - The Buck Benders story Part II."
Store Owner: You were right, though. It really was a good idea. Just look at potato go.
He holds the Buck Benders toy in front of Potato. Potato slowly reaches for it, but gives up.
Francine: All that work for nothing.
The girls walk out of the store.
~~~
A while later, Francine and Muffy walk into the Powers’ ice-cream shop, still carrying the box of Fruffies. They sit with Buster and George who are sadly sitting at a table with a cabbage in front of them.
Muffy: Two spring smoothies, Brain, and don't skip on the strawberries.
Francine: Hey.
Buster: Hey.
George: Hi.
Buster: What's in the box?
Francine: Cat toys. Why do you have a cabbage?
Buster: I'm gonna carry it around with me always to remind myself of how I destroyed the Community Garden.
George: It was my fault, too. I should have made the birdhouse smaller.
Buster: It's okay, George. It sure was beautiful.
Brain serves the smoothies.
Brain: Why do you have a box of cat toys?
Muffy: We were going to start a business making pet toys, but our idea was scooped. I guess we'll donate them to the animal shelter.
Francine: And now, I have to do all those chores for Catherine for using that 3D printer.
Kids: (sighs)
Muffy: Hey, do you think the 3D printer could make a birdhouse?
Francine: I don't see why not. Catherine said they could make just about anything. Why?
Muffy: There might just be a way to save Skywire Industries. Gentlemen, I have a proposition for you.
~~~
Later at the garden, purple martins are flying in and out of a multistorey birdhouse looking like a smaller version of the Lundgrens’ design. Mr. Langley, Catherine and Buster stand around the pole.
Mr. Langley: That was made on a 3D printer?
Catherine: Yup.
Buster: The best part is the purple martins really seem to love it.
Francine, Muffy and George sit at a table in the garden.
Muffy: For Skywire Industries' next product, I think we should branch out into other pet homes. How about hamster mansions?
George: I like it.
Francine: I wonder what it'll be like when we're all in business together. Do you think we'll have fun?
They imagine the scene from the introduction in which they all argue.
Buster: Who needed a birdhouse in the first place, huh? Answer me that!
Kids: (all argue at once)
The fantasy ends.
Muffy: You know, on second thought, maybe we should wait a little while before we start our own business.
Francine: Yeah.
Buster: Makes sense.
George: Who wants more of my homemade coleslaw?