"Le Master of Disguise" is an episode of The Backyardigans from the third season.
Characters
Summary
"Inspector Austin of the Paris Police must find "Le Master of Disguise" Pablo among the quirky passengers aboard the Orient Express, all to the sounds of Nigerian pop music!"
Plot
Pablo is in the backyard wearing a black hat. He introduces himself to the viewer as Le Master of Disguise, a wanted trickster who is trying to escape to Istanbul where he is safe. He sings "Le Master of Disguise" as he swaps outifts to prove how he is the best at disguising and tricking others. He then hears Austin of the Paris Police looking for him and runs off. Austin, with a fedora and mustache on, steps on screen, looking for the wanted criminal, with the only clue being his laugh ("Heh-heh-heh!").
Austin questions the viewer about Le Master of Disguise's current residence as the backyard transforms into a train station. A conductor (that looks surprisingly similar to Pablo) shouts "All aboard!" multiple times. Austin confronts the so-called conductor and asks him if he has seen Le Master of Disguise. The conductor replies with a no and causes a disappointed Austin.
Austin searches for the criminal as two passengers enter the train, a cowboy and a circus performer. Austin tells himself that anyone of the train's passengers could truly be the criminal until he hears Le Master of Disguise's famous laugh, being performed by the conductor. The train heads for Istanbul. Austin jumps on at the last minute and finds another conductor, Uniqua. Austin predicts that the new conductor is obviously Le Master of Disguise.
Uniqua tells Austin that she has no idea what he is talking about since she truly is the train's only conductor. Keeping in mind that Le Master of Disguise can only be discerned by his laughter, Austin tells a joke and gets Uniqua to laugh, confirming that the previous conductor was the criminal and tricked him. The two sing "Who Can It Be?" as they search for Le Master of Disguise. They come across a beanery (a restaurant located inside the train).
Austin spots the cowboy he saw earlier, suspecting him to be Le Master of Disguise. The duo questions the western moose to prove that he is a real cowboy. Tyrone the cowboy tells the two that he could do some rope tricks for them and does so, while singing "I'm a Cowboy". Austin tells Tyrone a joke, and upon hearing Tyrone's laugh, Austin confirms he is, in fact, not Le Master of Disguise after all.
The waiter at the beanery laughs Le Master of Disguise's famous laugh, giving away his identity. Austin and Uniqua turn around, expecting to catch the criminal, until Le Master of Disguise escapes into the storage area. Uniqua and Austin follow him, only to find the circus performer Austin spotted earlier.
Austin tells Tasha the circus balancer to prove that she truly is a circus performer. Tasha balances on a tightrope while singing "Could Le Master of Disguise Do This?" to prove that she is not Le Master of Disguise, ultimately doing so when Austin tells her another joke. Austin accepts the proof as he hears the laugh once again. Austin opens the door on the last cart and looks for Le Master of Disguise after telling Uniqua to round up the passengers to make sure none of them is Le Master of Disguise.
Austin knows that, since he is on the last car and the train is going too fast for someone to jump off it without getting painfully injured, Pablo must be on top of the train. Austin finds Le Master of Disguise running away from him atop the train cars. Austin loses track of Le Master of Disguise and reports his information to Uniqua.
Tyrone, Tasha, and Uniqua enter the beanery and wait for Austin. Now disguised as Austin himself, Le Master of Disguise enters the room just as Austin does. The two fight over who is real Inspector. Austin forgets what he is supposed to do after he caught Le Master of Disguise, since he never thought he would make it this far. As the duo begin to argue who's the real Austin, Uniqua, who remembers how to tell which one of them is Le Master of Disguise, orders one of them to laugh, but no one refuse to laugh because no one said anything funny. So, Uniqua decides to tell a Dinosaur joke. When she answers "two dinosaurs", Le Master of Disguise begins to laugh, causing the passengers to finally recognize him.
Le Master of Disguise tries to cover his mouth, but Inspector Austin and Conductor Uniqua, who is trying the think that it is him, capture him. Le Master of Disguise asks why Austin was chasing him in the first place. Austin says he was chasing Le Master of Disguise because he runs, and he runs because Austin was chasing him. Le Master of Disguise's stomach growls, and he invites everyone over for croissants at his house. The train transforms back into the backyard as Le Master of Disguise transforms back to Pablo, and the children sing the end song. They enter Pablo's blue-colored house. Pablo opens the previously closed door and laughs, ending the episode.
Roles
- Uniqua: Conductor Uniqua
- Pablo: Le Master of Disguise
- Tyrone: Cowboy Tyrone
- Tasha: Circus Balancer Tasha
- Austin: Inspecteur Austin
Songs
Trivia
- This is the first episode to be made in 2008, as indicated by the copyright stamp.
- During the backyard sequence when Pablo is showing his disguises, he wears his clown outfit from Best Clowns in Town, his cowboy outfit from Riding the Range, Polka Palace Party and The Secret of Snow his pirate outfit from Pirate Treasure and Fly Girl, mostly the latter episode due to him not having a peg leg like he did in the former episode. He also uses his king outfit from Tale of the Mighty Knights: Part 1 and Tale of the Mighty Knights: Part 2 (which came before this episode), his mountie outfit from The Snow Fort and his knight outfit from Knights Are Brave and Strong.