Bargaining for Time

Bargaining for Time
Jumanji Elements
Crystal Ball Message	"A TRICK IN RHYME, SAVES TIME."
Characters	Alan Parrish Judy Shepherd Peter Shepherd Nora Shepherd Van Pelt J.H. "Trader" Slick Manji Tribe
Wildlife	Monkeys Australian Shepard
Peter's Penalty	Tortoise
Episode Credits
Directed by	Cathy Malkasian
Written by	John Behnke, Rob Humphrey & Jim Peterson
Air date	September 15, 1996
Previous	Price
Next	Masked Identity

Barganing for Time is the second episode of the first season of the animated series, ad the second episode overall. It marks the first appearance of Trader Slick, soon to be a frequently recurring inhabitant of; "Jumanji".

Plot

In the Parrish Mansion, Peter and Judy race each other when they head upstairs to play "Jumanji", but Judy slides and breaks her wristwatch and a vase that Nora was very fond of. Judy cries wolf to avoid punishment, leaving her feeling pleased that her exaggerations worked, but Nora knows she was lying, leaving Peter feeling uneasy that she resorted to lying to their guardian. When the kids roll the dice and are given the clue; "A TRICK IN RHYME, SAVES TIME.", they emerge in the middle of a meeting between Alan and the Manjis. Alan tried to bargain with the Manji Tribe for a special spear that might help him get out of "Jumanji", but was unsuccessful when Judy started telling them lies too, which angered the Manjis into chasing Alan, Peter and Judy. Once they evade the tribe, they encounter the malicious and cunning Trader Slick who takes them to his store to show off his wares. Alan is wary of Slick after hearing bad news about him and attempted to leave until Slick holds a valuable artifact that could release Alan from "Jumanji"; a genuine one-of-a-kind "Get Out of Jumanji Free" card. The downside was that Slick won't sell unless the trio have something valuable to trade. Judy tries to trick Slick into taking her broken wrist watch for the card, assuring him that it keeps time "perfectly". Slick takes her up on her offer and gives them the "Get-Out-Of-Jumanji-Free" Card.

The card works and Alan was allowed to go back to Brantford, but the trio quickly realized that time in the outside world has frozen to a stop. Judy promised Slick that the watch keeps perfect time, so "Jumanji", held her to her word. They figure that as long as Slick keeps the perfectly still watch in "Jumanji", time will continue to remain perfectly still in the outside world. If that wasn't enough, the familiar Monkey trio emerge from the game, and start to wreck everything in their path, once more humiliating Officer Bentley, and Peter suddenly sports a shell as he begins gradually turning into a tortoise as an additional consequence for Judy's not-so-harmless lies, forcing them to return to "Jumanji" and try to trade the watch back.

Back in "Jumanji", Trader Slick refuses to return the watch unless they deliver him something valuable in return. Slick says he's after a safari hunter's pith helmet, which Alan dreads as the only person in "Jumanji" who wore one was none-other than Van Pelt. At Van Pelt's Lodge during nightfall, the trio try to obtain his helmet while the hunter was fast asleep in bed with both his helmet and his rifle. Judy inadvertently wakes a groggy Van Pelt with another quick lie, urging them to flee from Van Pelt's Lodge with the hunter's angry gunshots at their heels. They slide down into a mucky river, using Peter's surprisingly buoyant tortoise shell as a makeshift raft. Despite their success, Slick apparently "received" a shipment of hats just like Van Pelt's, rendering his deal obsolete. He then rectifies the deal when offering the addition of the valuable sacred hunting spear of the Manji's as a substitute. Continuing where they left off, the trio steal the spear from the Manjis, only to once again be chased off by the tribe in force. But again Slick reneges the deal, claiming to have taken in a shipment of identical spears and clarifies he actually meant he "couldn't" trade his "one-of-a-kind" timepiece for a ratty old helmet and a worthless spear.

Once Slick insisted that he: "Wants nothing, needs nothing", Alan and Peter become more frustrated at Slick's deviousness until Judy tricks Slick again--this time without actually lying--into trading the watch for a mystery box. Slick opened it to find nothing in it— fulfilling his own insistence about how he "Wants nothing, needs nothing," and stormed off into his store in a huff, promising they will be doing business with him again. Nevertheless, solving their clue causes time to return to normal and returning Peter and Judy to Brantford, but Alan can't follow as his "Get-Out-Of-Jumanji-Free" Card was used already, only being usable once.

Back in the outside world, Aunt Nora was about to leave the house to meet her date, though her appearance was still a wreck from the earlier invasion of the Monkey trio. Judy tries to intercept her, but realizing that she's too late to make a difference, only notes that she looked "stunning." Peter reminds Judy not to lie anymore, but she explains that it wasn't a lie, her point proven when Aunt Nora's date screams at the sight of her.

Continuity

• The episode begins with Judy and Peter giving a brief synopsis of the plot. This was continued in the following two episodes only and not again.
• Judy's characteristic lying from the 1995 film is represented in this episode prominently but she seemed to have learned her lesson as she does not overly resort to using it afterwards.
  • In "Truth or Consequently", the lying habit was passed to Peter, and by the episode closure it is Judy who reminds him about telling lies around "Jumanji", referring to their first encounter with Slick.
• Footage of the episode was used in the series finale; "Good Bye, Jumanji". In conclusion to what the animated series demonstrated, (almost) nothing bought from Slick ever works, guaranteeing no-one's satisfaction but Slick's own.

Gallery

Slick opens up shop.

Slick's "Get-Out-Of-Jumanji-Free" Card.

"Get-Out-Of-Jumanji-Free".

Van Pelt's Lodge.

Van Pelt blasts his rifle.

Legacy

• The Episode was included on the 2018 HMV "Jumanji", Steelbook, which was deliberately released to coincide with the 2017 film. Along with the previous episode, the Steelbook included the 1995 TriStar film, an animated edition of the original "Jumanji" storybook read by author Chris Van Allsburg and a sneak peek at Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.