Tourist Trapped

"Tourist Trapped" is the 1st episode in Season 1 of Gravity Falls. It aired as the series preview of the show after the premiere of the Original Disney Channel Movie, Let It Shine, on June 15, 2012. "Tourist Trapped" is the official pilot episode of the show.

Overview
When Dipper and Mabel Pines arrive to spend their summer break in the remote town of Gravity Falls, Mabel's suspiciously weird new boyfriend causes the twins to come face to face with the town's strange and uncanny secrets.

Synopsis
Twelve-year-old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines arrive to spend their summer break with their Great Uncle Stan, or more commonly know as Grunkle Stan, in the remote town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Once there, they have to work at Stan's store, called the Mystery Shack. While hanging signs advertising the shack in the "creepy part" of the woods, Dipper finds a metal hollow tree. Inside, he finds an electronic device that, when he flips some switches, opens a trap door in the ground. Inside he finds a 3|mysterious journal with facts and notes about Gravity Falls' creatures that hints to an even greater cover-up hidden within the town's wondrous past and present. Dipper then believes that Mabel's new boyfriend, Norman, is a zombie when he starts acting strangely. When Mabel is with Norman, Norman eventually reveals to her that he is actually a gnome named Jeff (the leader of the gnomes) standing on top of other gnomes. Dipper asks Wendy if he can use the Mystery Cart to save Mabel, convinced that she will be eaten by Norman (still presumed to be a zombie). Wendy gives him the keys and tells him to try not to hit any pedestrians. As Dipper drives the Mystery Cart to save Mabel, Soos gives Dipper a shovel for the zombie and a baseball bat in case he sees any piñatas. Dipper drives the Mystery Cart into the forest to rescue Mabel from the gnomes.

Dipper takes the Mystery Cart and finds them in the forest. After a gnome vomits rainbows, Dipper questions what the heck is going on, gets hissed at by a gnome, and Mabel explains that Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnome jerks. Dipper realizes that he was way off and checks the journal, only to see that there is no known weakness for the gnomes. The gnomes tie Mabel to the ground. Jeff begins to explain that this is a big misunderstanding by saying "She's not in danger, she's just going to marry all one thousand of us and become our gnome queen for all eternity." Dipper commands them to release Mabel or else. Jeff begins to explain that Dipper won't be able to stop them because they are a powerful race, but Dipper stops him in mid-sentence and chucks him with the shovel. He then uses the shovel to free Mabel from the ground and they begin to drive back to the Mystery Shack.

Once Jeff and the gnomes realize Dipper and Mabel are getting away, they assemble together, becoming one big monster. Mabel worries that they will catch up to them, but Dipper isn't because gnomes have tiny legs. They then realize that the gnomes formed a big monster (controlled by Jeff). The monster begins to chase after Dipper and Mabel. The army of gnomes begins launching gnomes at the Mystery Cart. Dipper and Mabel fight them off one by one and Dipper bashes Shmebulock on the Mystery Cart's horn three times. One of the gnomes lands on Dipper's face, and Mabel punches it several times to get it to let go. After Dipper thanks Mabel for saving him, the monster then picks up a tree and throws it in the middle of the road. Dipper and Mabel closely slide under it and crash the Mystery Cart in front of the Mystery Shack. Dipper and Mabel crawl from the Mystery Cart. Dipper warns the gnomes to stay back, so he throws a shovel at them, but they smash it to the ground. Dipper and Mabel both scream and Dipper wonders where Grunkle Stan is (Stan is inside showing tourists "The world's most distracting object" distracting himself in the process).

Mabel then tells Dipper that she has to do it. Dipper doesn't trust her plan, but she tells him to trust her. Mabel agrees to marry Jeff. Jeff gets excited, climbs down from the giant gnome monster and goes to put the ring on Mabel's finger. Once Jeff successfully places the ring on Mabel's finger, he wants to hurry and get Mabel back into the forest, but Mabel says that he must kiss her first. Jeff puckers up, but to his surprise, Mabel uses a leaf blower against him. Mabel sucks and shoots Jeff out of the leaf blower for revenge because he lied to her, broke her heart, and messed with Dipper. As he flies through the air, he crashes into the gnome monster and says that he will have his revenge. The rest of the gnomes are confused as to what they should do next. Mabel then begins blowing them with the leaf blower, forcing them back into the forest. One of the gnomes gets caught in the plastic from a 6-pack soda and is carried away by Gompers. Mabel feels sad that her first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes, so Dipper tries to cheer her up by saying that her next boyfriend might be a vampire. They then proceed to do an "awkward sibling hug."

Dipper and Mabel walk into the Mystery Shack. Grunkle Stan tells them they can each take anything they want from the Mystery Shack. Dipper chooses his signature blue pine tree hat, and Mabel chooses a grappling hook. Mabel is then seen jumping on the bed, playing with her toy while Dipper writes about the events that happened that day in the mysterious journal he found. At the end, Dipper tells Mabel to turn off the light, but instead she shoots it out of the window with the grappling hook. Meanwhile, Grunkle Stan opens a secret door downstairs by typing in a secret code on the vending machine, which leads to a secret room downstairs. He mysteriously closes the door, which hints that he may have something to hide. During the end credits, they replay the clip of Steve throwing up rainbows, except it's longer and lasts the entire credit roll.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Alex Hirsch


 * Directed by:
 * John Aoshima


 * Storyboards by:
 * Matt Braly
 * Erik Fountain
 * Mark Garcia
 * Alonso Ramirez Ramos
 * Niki Yang


 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Alex Hirsch - Grunkle Stan and Soos
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy


 * Additional voices:
 * Keith Ferguson - Teen that works at Mattress Prince's mattress store
 * Alex Hirsch - Gnomes (including "Norman")
 * Fred Tatasciore - Hank
 * Casting By:
 * Sara Goldberg

Production notes

 * See also: List of allusions and List of goofs

Series continuity

 * Blendin Blandin can be seen back in the bushes when the gnomes destroy the shovel that Dipper threw at them. Interestingly Blendin can only be clearly seen in HD (high definition).

Trivia

 * Viewership: This episode was watched by 3.4 million viewers on its premiere night.
 * The title of the episode is most likely a combination of "tourist trap," which is a trick shop trying to make tourists spend all their money on different objects, referring to the Mystery Shack, and "trapped," since Dipper and Mabel are "trapped" in Gravity Falls, Oregon for the summer.
 * This episode was originally available as a free download on iTunes.
 * When it was first aired as the series preview, this episode lacked the scene before the opening sequence, let alone the theme song.
 * The 618 appearances for this episode are as follows:
 * The Mystery Shack's address is 618.
 * On the cash register as $6.18 when Wendy is introduced.
 * The first page of 3 is dated June 18, June is the 6th month.
 * The Whack-A-Mole machine in Dipper and Mabel's bedroom has its score stuck at 8190, 0618 when looked upside down.
 * "Tourist Trapped" received two nominations for the 40th Annie Awards, including Ian Worrel for Best Production Design in a Television/Broadcast Production, and Kristen Schaal for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production.
 * The unaired pilot was an original sketch of this episode.
 * This episode was also released as a Starbucks Pick of the Week, free for anyone who received the code.

Critical Reception

 * Alasdair Wilkins, writing for the A.V. Club, gave this episode a positive review, and a grade of a B+, noting it's mature feel in comparison to most cartoons on the for children, it's inspiration it likely took from The Simpsons, Eerie, Indiana, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks and criticizing it's overuse of random humor, praising it's use of paranormal themes for humor, Kristen Schaal's performance as Mabel, Jason Ritter's performance as Dipper, even though it was noted that he sounds too old to be a 12 year old, and concludes that the show looked promising.

Cryptogram

 * During the end credits of this episode, there was a cryptogram that read "ZHOFRPH WR JUDYLWB IDOOV." Once decoded, it reads "WELCOME TO GRAVITY FALLS."