Sketches, parodies, and other crazy stuff centered around imagination - how it works, how to use it, why you need it, and more.
Zack and Lindsay are two imaginative kids who upload imaginative videos to their own web channel called "Noodles", with help from Zack's quirky Uncle Charlie, his put-upon older sister Allie, and Lindsay's flaky neighbor Samantha. What follows is a series of "sketch comedy-style" sketches, parodies, and humorous bits that explore and promote the many aspects of imagination, showing how you use it to solve problems, make decisions, and be creative in your everyday life (and also showing how not to use your imagination, such as telling lies or exaggerating the truth). Parodies abound that not only appeal to kids but to grown-ups as well, including The Stoplight Zone (a parody of The Twilight Zone), Sherlock House (based on, of course, Sherlock Holmes), Sam Clubs (a parody of Sam Spade), and Spunky Rooster (a parody of the 80s sitcom Punky Brewster), plus other crazy sketch characters such as Know-It-All Kid, Little Miss Exaggerate, Wacko the Magician, and an unfortunate newscaster who receives the brunt of whatever she happens to be reporting.—Fantastical Children
Noodles is divided into three segments, a series of sketch-comedy-style videos ostensibly created by Zack and Lindsay, the two main kids, all centered around various concepts of imagination. Zack, Lindsay, Zack's practical sister Allie, Zack's quirky Uncle Charlie, and Lindsay's flaky neighbor Samantha are all featured in the videos, as themselves and also playing the various characters within the sketches and parodies.
Certain recurring bits are featured in all three segments: the intro/outro, Roving Reporters (where Allie, Samantha, and Uncle Charlie are asked their opinions on certain aspects of imagination), and Special Bulletin, where the Newscaster (played by Allie) gives important information about imagination, followed by some outrageous news item that brings some sort of calamity upon the Newscaster (i.e. "And now for the weather, cloudy with a chance of socks", and the Newscaster is showered with socks). The rest of the segments are filled with sketches and parodies as follows:
Segment #1: "It's All in Your Head" (exploring the uses and functions of imagination)
WALL OF PROBLEMS - A "public service announcement" about using your brain to solve problems, featuring a distressed young girl who is trying to get through (literally) a wall of problems. She is pestered by Know-It-All Kid, the know-it-all superhero, who claims that he will think for her because he knows everything and she doesn't. But the girl decides to use her own brain to find a way through the wall of problems, and she builds a "solution" door (by using her brain, she created a solution to the problem). The girl walks through the door, leaving Know-It-All Kid behind with his cape stuck in the door.
SHERLOCK HOUSE: Featuring a Sherlock Holmes-style detective who is visited by a street urchin seeking his help. Sherlock House launches into an overly elaborate speech about using his memory and imagination to solve mysteries- memory replays past experiences and imagination helps to recreate the problem in his head. At the end, the urchin reveals that all she wanted to know was if anyone had seen her dog that ran away earlier that morning, much to Sherlock House's disappointment.
THE ADVENTURES OF LINDSAY AND SAMANTHA: Lindsay and Samantha recreate how they had to use both memory and imagination to find a lost library book.
MIND MATTERS: A sketch showing the inside of a boy's mind, and the frantic little mind man who has to find the memory of a horse in the boy's memory files so that the boy can complete a creative writing assignment.
A BRIEF MOMENT WITH ZACK AND ALLIE: Zack and Allie discuss perception (how one picture can look different to two people) by looking at a drawing of circular lines. Practical Allie just sees a series of lines. Imaginative Zack sees an alien spaceship.
PIERRE THE ARTIST: A French artist combines his memory of animals with his imagination in order to fit all the animals onto one small canvas.
Segment #2: "Runaway Brain" (don't let imagination get carried away with you)
THE STOPLIGHT ZONE: A parody of The Twilight Zone, narrated by Rib Sirloin and featuring a young girl who watches a movie on TV about fruit that tries to take over the world. Her imagination gets the best of her, and she begins to think that fruit really is trying to take over the world, having a dream in which she is held prisoner by an orange, an apple, and bananas. The girl visits the school councilor, who shows her how to separate make-believe from real life.
LITTLE MISS EXAGGERATE: Little Miss Exaggerate is a little girl who tells an off-camera person a long, elaborate, and extremely exaggerated story about what happened to her. At the end, we realize she is trying to explain to her teacher why she was late for class. The final shot is Little Miss Exaggerate having to write lines "I will not exaggerate in class", and an announcer reminding viewers, "Imagination: use it, don't abuse it."
THE ADVENTURES OF LINDSAY AND SAMANTHA: Lindsay recounts how a "monster" in her room turned out to be a coat rack, all because she let her imagination run away with her.
WACKO THE MAGICIAN: The Italian magician Wacko explains how imagination can sometimes play tricks on your mind.
A BRIEF MOMENT WITH ZACK AND ALLIE: Zack and Allie perform the Great Disappearing Trick, as Zack makes Allie "disappear" inside a makeshift magic box. Zack explains that because you can't see Allie with your eyes, your imagination makes you think she really disappeared (and that your imagination can play the same kind of tricks, so you have to know what's real and what's pretend). Zack and Lindsay unexpectedly have to leave the set, forgetting to do the Reappearing Trick, and of course, forgetting to let Allie out of the box.
SAM CLUBS, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: A parody of Bogart's Sam Spade, featuring the street-wise detective Sam Clubs, who is visited by a young woman who claims a burglar stole all the donuts from her father's shop. After investigating, Sam Clubs discovers the young woman is lying to cover up the fact that she actually ate all the donuts herself, prompting Sam Clubs to discourage the girl from using her imagination the wrong way.
Segment #3: "Shapes and Sizes" (everybody has imagination)
MATCH THAT OBJECT: A game show featuring host Alex Quebec, and two brainy contestants, Kent Clark and Parker Peters. Kent uses his creativity to solve a matching game, while Parker uses her memory. After a tie, the contestants dispute who was the better champion, but Quebec says they are both winners because they both used their imaginations, just in different ways. The contestants agree, but continue to bicker, resulting in Parker chasing Kent out of the room, and Quebec satisfied that he is being paid millions of dollars to host the show.
HONEST AL: An infomercial featuring obnoxious Honest Al, who is selling imagination for half-price, including "Creativity", "Problem-Solving", "Memory", and "Decision-Making". Honest Al is informed that everybody already has imagination, so everything he is selling is already inside everyone's heads. . .for free!
THE ADVENTURES OF LINDSAY AND SAMANTHA: Lindsay and Samantha review all the ways that grown-ups use their imaginations: planning a party, decorating a room, building a house, etc.
THIS IS A REALLY OLD HOUSE: Home improvement expert Bob Villavellakula (based on Bob Vila from This Old House) reminds viewers that grown-ups use imagination all the time, just as he uses it to figure out which wallpaper goes best with a red picture frame.
A BRIEF MOMENT WITH ZACK AND ALLIE: Allie is "psychoanalyzed" by Uncle Charlie because she thinks she doesn't have any imagination. Zack dramatically narrates the proceedings, as Uncle Charlie reminds Allie that everyone uses their imagination, but in different ways.
SPUNKY ROOSTER: A parody of the 80s sitcom Punky Brewster, the sketch features Spunky Rooster and her adoptive father Humphrey. Spunky unwisely decides to experiment with a science project by overheating a plate of spaghetti in the microwave. The spaghetti explodes (all over Humphrey), prompting a discussion on the importance of making smart decisions, and how imagination can help you make decisions (by helping you think about the consequences before deciding). All ends well, until Humphrey discovers that Spunky has eaten his secret stash of peppermints.
