Tourist Trapped

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

Overview
Young twins Dipper and Mabel Pines arrive to spend their summer break with their Great Uncle Stan, aka Grunkle Stan, in the remote town of Gravity Falls. Dipper soon finds his sister's new crush suspiciously odd, which causes Dipper and Mabel to come face-to-face with the town's strange and uncanny secrets. Dipper also finds a mysterious journal that hints to an even greater cover-up hidden within the town's wondrous past...and present.



Synopsis


Young twins Dipper and Mabel Pines arrive to spend their summer break with their Great Uncle Stan, also known as Grunkle Stan, in the remote town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, but also have to work at Stan's store, the Mystery Shack. Dipper soon finds his sister's new crush, named Norman, is suspiciously odd, which causes Dipper and Mabel to come face-to-face with the town's strange and uncanny secrets. While hanging signs in the "creepy part" of the woods, Dipper finds a 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 Mabel's boyfriend is a zombie when he acts strange. When Mabel is with her boyfriend, he tells her that he is actually a gnome standing on top of other gnomes. Dipper asks Wendy if he can use the golf cart to save Mabel. Wendy gives him the keys and tells him to try not to hit any pedestrians.



Dipper takes the cart and finds them in the forest. After a gnome vomits rainbows, Dipper questions what the heck is going on 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 weakness listed for the gnomes. The gnomes now have Mabel tied to the ground. One of the gnomes 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 them and become their gnome queen for all eternity." Dipper commands them to release Mabel or else. The gnome 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 it to free Mabel from the ground and they begin to drive back to the Mystery Shack.



Once 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. The army of gnomes begins launching several small gnomes onto the Mystery Shack golf cart. Dipper and Mabel fight them off one by one. One of them lands on Dipper's face and Mabel punches it several times to get it to release. 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 cart in front of the Mystery Shack. Dipper and Mabel crawl from the cart. Dipper warns the gnomes to stay back. 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.)



Mabel then tells Dipper that she has to do it. Dipper doesn't agree, but she tells him to trust her. Mabel agrees to marry the gnome Jeff. Jeff is excited 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 to the forest, but Mabel says that he must kiss the bride. Jeff puckers up, but to his surprise Mabel has a leaf blower pointed his way. Mabel sucks and shoots Jeff out of the leaf blower because he lied to her, broke her heart, and messed with Dipper. As he is flying through the air, he says that he'd get them for that. 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 a goat. Mabel feels sad that her first boyfriend was a bunch of gnomes, so Dipper tries to cheer her up by saying that her next boyfriend will be a vampire. They then hug each other in an akward sibling way.



Dipper and Mabel walk into the Mystery Shack. Grunkle Stan is feeling guilty for insulting them, so he tells them they can each take anything they want from the Mystery Shack. Dipper chooses a hat that he will be seen with throughout the series and Mabel chooses a grappling hook, holding it in a Zelda-like fashion. 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 flicks it out of the window with the grappling hook. Meanwhile, Grunkle Stan opens a secret door created by the snack machine which leads to a secret passage 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


 * Starring:
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Alex Hirsch:
 * Grunkle Stan
 * Soos
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy


 * Additional voices:
 * Keith Ferguson
 * Alex Hirsch
 * Kimberly Mooney
 * Fred Tatasciore

Production notes

 * See also: List of allusions and List of goofs

Trivia

 * This episode received 3.4 million viewers on its premiere night.
 * The title of the episode is most likely a combination of "tourist trap," referring to the Mystery Shack, and "trapped," since Dipper and Mabel are "trapped" in Gravity Falls, Oregon for the summer.

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."