A Tale of Two Stans

A Tale of Two Stans
Production information
Production code	618G-213
Written by	Josh Weinstein Matt Chapman Alex Hirsch
Storyboards by	Sage Cotugno Alonso Ramirez Ramos Stephen Sandoval Dana Terrace Luke Weber
Directed by	Sunil Hall
Broadcast information
Original air date	July 13, 2015 (Disney XD) September 11, 2015 (Disney Channel)
Ratings	2.3
International dates	June 20, 2015 (Czech Republic) Click "expand" for full list September 10, 2015 (UK and Ireland) September 18, 2015 (Russia) October 3, 2015 (Switzerland) October 11, 2015 (Poland) October 26, 2015 (Germany) October 31, 2015 (the Netherlands) November 6, 2015 (Israel) November 15, 2015 (Brazil) November 28, 2015 (Turkey) February 13, 2016 (Japan) March 5, 2016 (Indonesia) March 5, 2016 (Philippines) March 12, 2016 (Spain)
Episode Guide
Previous	Not What He Seems
Next	Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons
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Read transcript

"A Tale of Two Stans" is the 12th episode of the second season of Gravity Falls and the 32nd episode overall. It premiered on July 13, 2015 on Disney XD.

Official overview

Cornered underneath the Mystery Shack, Stan must finally reveal the secrets of his past and his mysterious portal to Dipper and Mabel.

Synopsis

Stan and the author are having a cold reunion.

The episode starts with two boys, Stanley and Stanford Pines, running and peeking through a board covering an abandoned cave. They're shown to be friendly and supportive of each other. One of the boys attempts to pull the board, but fails. The other boy then punches the board, causing it to break, and they both enter the cave. Afterward, they write their names on the wall to claim ownership of the place. However, it's later revealed that they are indeed the young Stanley and Stanford Pines.

Right where the previous episode left off, Stan's brother, the author of the Journals, emerged from the portal. Cornered under the Mystery Shack, Stan Pines greets the Author with a hug. However, the Author responds by punching Stan and refuses to thank him for freeing him from the Universe portal. He blames Stan for taking a huge risk by reactivating it and claims that Stan was the reason he was trapped in the first place. Mabel interjects, curious about the situation, while Dipper is so excited to finally meet the author that he nearly throws up. Stan introduces the kids as the grandchildren of their brother, Shermie. The Author greets the children and asks Stan if anyone else knows about the portal, to which Stan tells him only they... and maybe the entire U.S. government, which surprises and angers the Author.

Powers and Trigger have their men keep searching and Powers tells them they won't go anywhere until they find Stan and the kids, the Author watches the agents on a monitor and tells the others that they have a while before the agents find the basement, then Mabel suggests that Stan and the Author tell their backstory to pass the time, Author agrees, tells Stan that he has some questions and calls him "Stanley", Dipper and Mabel ask Stan why the Author called him "Stanley" if his name is "Stanford", the Author overhears that and asks Stan if he took his name (revealing that he's Stanford). Ford asks Stan what he's been doing those 30 years and Dipper and Mabel also ask him for answers, Stan acknowledges that he owes them a lot of explanations and tells his story.

The Stan twins as children.

Stanley and Stanford, twins born in the quaint town of Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey during the 1950s, shared an unbreakable bond. Their parents, an implacably stoic father and a pathological liar/phone psychic, owned a pawn shop. The twins found solace in exploring the town's beach, where one fateful day, they stumbled upon a cave concealed beneath the sand. Inside, they discovered a broken ship, and it became their shared dream to restore it and embark on a global voyage in search of hidden treasures. Despite facing constant bullying for having six fingers, Stanford never lost sight of his brother Stanley, his steadfast companion through life's challenges.

Ford and Stan discuss their future.

The twins were as different as night and day. Stanley, a troublemaker, barely managed to graduate, while Stanford, a straight-A student, excelled in science competitions. One day, Stanford's perpetual motion machine for a science fair earned him a spot at his dream college, West Coast Tech. Despite Stanley's dream of sailing the world in their boat, Stanford was determined to attend college.

The Pines family disowns Stanley.

That night, in a fit of frustration, Stanley, an upset individual, stormed into the gym to examine Stanford's experiment. In his agitation, he slammed his fist on the table, accidentally causing irreparable damage to the experiment. The following day, when the college admission team arrived to inspect Stanford's work and discovered its malfunction, they promptly denied Stanford's admission to West Coast Tech. Confronted by Stanford at his home, Stanley's family suspected that he had deliberately sabotaged the experiment to prevent Stanford from attending college without him. Enraged by this supposed betrayal, Filbrick, Stanley's father, expelled him from the house, effectively ruining their chance of financial success. Determined to prove his family wrong, Stanley dedicated his life to becoming a successful businessman. However, his business ventures proved unsuccessful, leading to his ban from numerous states and countries. To evade detection, he resorted to using fake identities to travel to various locations. Stanley's desperation eventually led him to incarceration in three different countries, including Colombia.

Stanford ponders the mysteries of Gravity Falls.

Meanwhile, Stanford was accepted into Backupsmore University and graduated at the top of his class, securing a grant for his scientific research. Intrigued by anomalies, especially his own anomalous six-fingered hands, Stanford delved into research and eventually discovered Gravity Falls, the location with the highest concentration of anomalies. In the mid-1970s, he relocated there and enlisted the assistance of locals to construct his house. During his stay, he diligently documented his research and findings in three journals. Stanford firmly believed that all the anomalies in Gravity Falls stemmed from another dimension and resolved to build a universal portal to facilitate his exploration. He enlisted the help of his college buddy, Fiddleford McGucket, whose technical expertise enabled the complete construction of the universal portal.

Disturbed McGucket.

When the portal was activated for a test run, McGucket was almost sucked in. Stanford managed to pull him out, but McGucket wasn't himself and started acting strangely. He spoke in backward ciphers and issued a chilling warning: "When gravity falls and the earth becomes the sky, fear the beast with just one eye." After recovering, McGucket warned Stanford that the portal was too dangerous and urged him to destroy it. When Stanford refused, McGucket quit the project. Determined to forget what he had seen, McGucket tried to move on. However, when Stanford began to hear whispers and felt like he was losing his sanity, he realized he needed someone he could trust. That someone was Stanley. So, he called out to Stanley, asking him to come to Gravity Falls.

Stanford enters the portal.

As the two brothers met at Stanford's home, Stanford requested Stanley to conceal the first journal in a remote location to prevent anyone from using the portal. Stanley was upset with his brother for asking him to relocate to the other side of the world after only meeting for the first time in ten years. When Stanley nearly burned the journal with a lighter, a heated argument ensued over the journal. During the struggle, Stanley shouts at Stanford for leaving him behind when it was supposed to be them sticking together forever, thus ruining his life. This leads Stanford to retaliate by shouting that he ruined his own life and burning Stanley's back on the portal's control console, resulting in him acquiring a "tattoo" as the portal accidentally activated. Despite Stanford's attempts to apologize, Stanley lashed out, punching him in retaliation for calling him a failure as a brother and if he cares about his mysteries than his family, he can have them. In a fit of anger, Stanley pushed Stanford toward the portal, causing him to get too close and get sucked in. As the portal shut off, Stanford threw the first journal to Stanley, trapping himself in another dimension, leaving him lost with his fate unknown.

The Mystery Shack's first show.

Plagued by guilt, Stanley spent weeks trying to reactivate the portal, but needed the other two journals. Running out of food, he went to town but had no money. The store owners mistook him for his legendary housemate, Stanford Pines, and offered him tours to earn money. He assumed his brother's identity, faked his death, and opened the Murder Hut, later renamed the Mystery Shack. Every night, he tried to reactivate the portal to bring back his brother. He's lied to everyone in town for 30 years, including the twins, to keep the portal's existence a secret. Covering Ford's mortgage allowed him to control the portal and keep Ford's house. Losing the portal would mean losing any chance of getting Ford back.

The agents nearly catch the Pines.

Dipper apologizes to Stan for his disbelief, and Stan forgives him. However, government agents overhear the gang downstairs and head toward the basement. Soos claims that he forgot about them, reminding Dipper of Old Man McGucket's memory eraser. Ford uses it to erase the agents' memories and pretends to be a government official, explaining the readings as radiation from a meteor shower. After the agents leave, Dipper and Mabel thank Ford, but Stan tells them to go to bed, much to their dismay. Soos calls Wendy about the events.

Stan and Ford muse.

Later that night, Stan and Ford reflect on their transformations. Stan is hurt when Ford refuses to thank him for returning to Earth. Ford proposes a deal: Stan can watch Dipper and Mabel this summer while Ford stays in the basement to fix the portal damage. In return, Stan must give Ford his house and name back and close the Mystery Shack permanently. Stan agrees, but on one condition: Ford must avoid the twins to protect them. Dipper and Mabel eavesdrop, wondering if their reunion means good or bad news for the family. Mabel fears they'll turn out like Stan and Ford, but Dipper promises they won't. Mabel lies awake, worried they'll fight and part ways, like Stan and Ford did.

As the credits roll, Soos is still heard on the phone with Wendy, discussing the two Stans at three in the morning.

Credits

• Written by:
  • Josh Weinstein
  • Matt Chapman
  • Alex Hirsch

• Directed by:
  • Sunil Hall

• Storyboarded by:
  • Sage Cotugno
  • Alonso Ramirez Ramos
  • Stephen Sandoval
  • Dana Terrace
  • Luke Weber

• With the Voice Talents of
  • Kristen Schaal as Mabel
  • Jason Ritter as Dipper
  • Alex Hirsch as Stan and Soos
  • Brad Abrell as Agent Trigger
  • Linda Cardellini as Wendy
  • Declan J. Krogman as Young Stan
  • Jonathan Banks as Mr. Pines
  • Jennifer Coolidge as Lazy Susan
  • Christian Mardini as Young Ford
  • Ken Jenkins as Pa Duskerton
  • Nick Offerman as Agent Powers
  • J.K. Simmons as Ford
  • Kari Wahlgren as Mrs. Pines
  • Kevin Michael Richardson as Sheriff Blubs
  • Gregg Turkington as Toby Determined
  • April Winchell as Ma Duskerton

• Additional Voices
  • Jeff Bennett as Judge
  • Matt Chapman as Crampelter
  • Alex Hirsch as Young Fiddleford, Shmebulock Senior, Backupsmore University Dean
  • Kevin Michael Richardson as Principal
  • Kari Wahlgren as Receptionist, Tyler's mother

• Casting by:
  • Sara Jane Sherman

Production notes

See also: List of allusions and List of goofs.

Character revelations

• Stan's real name is Stanley Pines, while the Author's name is Stanford Pines.
• Stan has been banned from at least thirty two states in the USA: New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Maine, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
• Stan took Ford's name and turned his house into the Mystery Shack because he needed to pay Ford's mortgage after he was sucked into the portal. It was the only way he could pay it after the townspeople assumed he was Ford and said they would all pay money to see things like the Mystery Shack exhibits.
• Ford and Stan are about sixty years old.
• Stan's greed for money stems from him wanting to prove to his father that he can make millions after being kicked out of his home.
• Stan went to prison in three different countries.
• Stan faked his death in a staged car crash.
• The mark on Stan's back, presumed to be a tattoo by Dipper, is actually a burn mark from the portal's control console.
• Lazy Susan got her eye shocked in an accident at the first tour of the Mystery Shack, which is why her left eye is always closed.
• Ford attended the same university as Old Man McGucket.
• Ford and Stan's father's first name is Filbrick.
• Ford and Stan have a brother named Shermie, who is Dipper and Mabel's grandfather.
• Blubs' first name is Daryl, and he used to work at the Dusk 2 Dawn convenience store.
• Tyler got his catch-phrase, "Git 'em," from his mother.
• The Mystery Shack was originally called the "Murder Hut."
• Manly Dan, Jeffy Fresh, Byrone, Rosie, Ma, Pa, Lazy Susan, Tats, Sheriff Blubs, Mr. Valentino, Tyler, Toby Determined, Shandra Jimenez and Pizza Guy all lived in Gravity Falls thirty years ago.

Series continuity

• "BLENDIN WAS HERE" is written on a board at Glass Shard Beach, a reference to Blendin Blandin of "The Time Traveler's Pig" and "Blendin's Game".
• Stan and the twins' "PINES!" cheer from "Scary-oke" is shown to have originated from Stan and Ford's childhood.
• The episode continues immediately where "Not What He Seems" left off, following Ford's emergence from the portal.
• Soos mentions his fan fictions written about Stan, which were first brought up in a cryptogram found in Dipper's and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun!
• Stan and Ford's hometown of Glass Shard Beach was previously mentioned in "Society of the Blind Eye" on a page of Journal 3.
• The high five wasn't widespread until the 1970s, so Stan and Ford's "high six" and Crampelter high-fiving his friends shouldn't ordinarily exist. However, in "The Time Traveler's Pig" Mabel shared a high five with Fertilia Mecc (later credited with it's invention), thereby introducing the high five in the 1800's.
• A restaurant called "Hot Belgian Waffles" can be seen next to the Pines family's pawn shop, a phrase Stan yelled in "Headhunters" and "Not What He Seems."
• Stan and Ford christen their ship as the "Stan-o-war," the same name of Stan's rowboat in "The Legend of the Gobblewonker."
• The mask Stan used to scare Dipper in "Tourist Trapped" can be seen on Stan's childhood bed.
• The portrait of the unknown woman in the room first seen in "Carpet Diem," is seen hanging next to Ford's trophy shelf in their childhood home.
• The science project next to the Ford's "Perpetual Motion Machine" is a "Footbot 1000" made by Stan, a callback to the Footbot in his story from "Bottomless Pit!."
• Stan recalls his adventures outside of the country, referenced in "Dreamscaperers" and "Soos and the Real Girl."
• Octavia, the eight-legged cow from "Mabel's Scrapbook: Petting Zoo," appears as an illustration in a book that Ford reads at college, though it is likely a different mutant cow as this occurred 30 years prior to Octavia's appearance on the show.
• A box reading Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons can be found in Ford's dorm room, a reference to his fondness for the game and the name of the succeeding episode.
• A photograph depicting Stan and Ford boxing is taped to Stan's car, alluding to their days of boxing lessons first seen in "Dreamscaperers."
• The giant wooden hand that grabs Ford's car bears a strong resemblance to the giant wood foot from the promotional art for the show.
• The Shape Shifter from "Into the Bunker" is seen hatching from an egg.
• Ford investigates the Floating Cliffs and documents them within a page of Journal 1, which was first briefly shown "Not What He Seems."
• Shmebulock's father, Shmebulock Senior, is examined by Ford during his study of Gravity Falls.
• The room Ford performs his supernatural research in is the same room first discovered by Soos in "Carpet Diem," and is later where Stan spends his first few nights alone in the Mystery Shack.
• Several photographs that appear in the show's opening sequence make an appearance.
• Ford drafts the portal schematics in Journal 1 first revealed in "Gideon Rises."
• McGucket's laptop found in "Into the Bunker" appears as a prototype within his home.
• The partnership between Ford and McGucket initially established in "Society of the Blind Eye" is revisited during their construction of the portal, as well as the unholy visions Fiddleford is subjected to during his time in the machine.
• Stan mentions Rico, his former Colombian cellmate from "Dreamscaperers."
• Stan's failed Stan Vac product from "Dreamscaperers" appears in his motel room. Additionally, Stan uses slogans that hint that his products are bad in this episode just like he did with the Stan Vac.
• The postcard that Ford sends Stan from Gravity Falls is the same one appearing at the end of the opening sequence.
• The trap door concealed behind the living room wall Stan mentions in "Little Dipper" is seen during Ford's inhabitance of the Mystery Shack.
• The tattoo on Stan's back, first revealed in "The Legend of the Gobblewonker," is revealed to be a burn mark from a fistfight between him and his brother.
• The Dusk 2 Dawn convenience store from "The Inconveniencing" is a part of Stan's story, when it was open and when Ma and Pa Duskerton were alive as the owners. The teenagers they hated are also shown dancing outside their store to rap music, reiterating why they hated teenagers.
• Stan Bucks make a reappearance, first used in "Summerween."
• Pictures of Dipper and Mabel from "Legend of the Gobblewonker" are seen on Stan's desk.
• The memory eraser from "Society of the Blind Eye" returns.
• On "the very real report" Stanford is reading to the Agents, Mabel has drawn the possible outcome of the snake's and badger's child, a snadger. This couple was brought together in "The Love God."
• Ford mentions retreating to the basement to contain any damage from the portal, which was later revealed to be a dangerous interdimensional rift in the following episode.
• Stan's reliance on copying Ford's answers to succeed in school may have resulted in his incredibly poor vocabulary.

Trivia

• The episode is thirty minutes long, and had no commercial breaks during its debut airing. For reruns, the run time of this episode is 36 minutes, including commercial breaks.
• Beginning with this episode, a photo of Ford with Journal 1 replaces the photo of the pterodactyl in the theme song. This change persists for the rest of the series.
• The hole in the boards (in the episode and on its title card) is shaped like a triangle, a reference to Bill Cipher and his theme of Triangles.
• The words "BLENDIN WAS HERE" can be seen on the boards that blocked the cave on Glass Shard Beach.
• One of Stan's failed products was called "What a Racket!" Alex Hirsch has said that Bobby Renzobbi once sold a product with the same name.
• Stanley's science project, "Footbot 1000," is next to Ford's Perpetual Motion machine at the science fair. Footbot appears in Stan's story in "Bottomless Pit!"
• The shop on the left side of "Pines Pawns" in Glass Shard Beach is named "Hot Belgian Waffles." Stan frequently exclaims these words when he is shocked. The shop on the right side is named "Knuckles Sandwiches."
• The logo for "Sham Total" was written in a modified version of the "Action Is" font. Action Is is a font designed by Jeff N. Levine, and digitized by Brad O. Nelson at Brain Eaters in 1998. The font was loosely inspired by the lost Victor Caruso font "Caruso Roxy", and was originally found in a studio album from Steve Alaimo, who Levine worked in the recording studio with in 1997. Steve Alaimo was the host of the 1960s ABC series Where the Action is, and he named the studio album after the show. Action Is was a very popular font throughout the 2000s, and would make way for its extended version "Groovy Happening", as well as simplified version "Groovy Summer"; both were designed by Jeff Levine outside of Brain Eaters with approval from Brad O. Nelson.
• When Stan is trying to fix the portal in the flashback, he has the books Theoretical Physics Made Stupid and Code Breaking in the lab.
• This episode was viewed by 2.3 million viewers on Disney XD, a new record for the network.
• The list of West Coast Tech rejects includes at least Dianne Bonnetant, Paul Mandell, Stanford Pines, Mara Dorgenstern and Thomas O' Shant.
• Near the end of the episode, Ford mentions Floppy Disks and 8-tracks when asking about the Agents mission. This is due to Ford being unaware of technology progression having made these formats obsolete, yet 8-tracks were and only have been used for audio.
• The title "A Tale of Two Stans" was a reference story of "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.
• This is the first and only appearance of Stan and Ford's mother, Caryn Pines.
• The baby that appears in the episode was originally meant to be Shermie Pines, but Alex Hirsch realized the continuity error too late. It is unknown who the baby is supposed to be now.
• When the agents hand over the Pines case information to Ford, he says, "What are you waiting for, a kiss on the cheek?" Stan says a very similar phrase to Dipper in Scary-oke.

Cut Scenes

Alongside storyboards uploaded by the crew to Scribd and other personal socials, the release of the Complete Series Box Set saw several cut and deleted scenes being revealed for the episode:

• An early opening of the episode had Soos giving a "previously," monologue with a scene showing Stan's nose bleeding. The bleeding is revealed to be from Ford punching him.
• Ford originally was going to have a beard.

  

  Fully animated deleted scene from the episode.

• There was a deleted scene involving both Stan and Ford adjusting their glasses at the same time. Unlike other deleted scenes, this one was fully animated and only ever was seen in the 2015 SDCC trailer for the 2nd half of season 2. It is unknown why it was cut. It is one of only two known fully animated deleted scenes from season 2 Gravity Falls, the other being the unicorn fight scene in "The Last Mabelcorn."
• A younger Ford is shown to still be hurt by the bullies who picked on him that night in him and Stan's room.
• Several cut montages of Stan and Ford growing up included them watching a movie on TV and making shadow puppets in class.
• A cut storyboard by Alonso Ramirez Ramos showed younger Stan and Ford watching TV one night, shirtless and eating food.
• Ford is seen inspecting Stan's Foot Bot and Ford's own invention for the science fair is shown to be much different to the one seen in the episode.
• Stan tries talking to a girl in school named Stacey, only to choke on toffee peanuts he was eating at the time.
• One of Stan's schemes to make a lot of money involves betting on a race horse named Paycheck. As per his luck, the horse loses but gives him an idea for another scheme. It's possible the idea came from The Sopranos episode "Pie-O-My", which has a plot focused on a racehorse by the same name.
• A deleted scene revealed by S. H. Cotugno in 2023 showed Ford being noticed by and playing with mermaids in the lake. Another had him noticing a traffic light creature that changed the lights while on his way home from the store. Both scenes according to Cotugno were cut for time.
• Originally Ford dismisses McGucket's concerns about the portal as "Dimensional Travel Sickness."
• After opening the Mystery Shack, Stan goes and "ties up loose ends," by staging the car crash that results in his fake death that Dipper and Mabel find the news article about. Stan achieves this by driving Ford's car to the top of a cliff, stuffing a dummy in it and then pushing it off the cliff while pretending to scream for help under the name Stanley Pines. The car crashes and explodes, likely making sure the dummy isn't discovered.
  • A mafia figure (probably a boss) is seen reading the newspaper on Stan's death and showing some satisfaction from it, implying that Stan likely had ties to the mafia or other organized crime and likely also had a hit out on him.
• Originally the ending of the episode had Ford returning to sleep in his own room. There he would have Bill Cipher reappearing in front of him and telling him how Stanley reactivating the portal will be of use to him soon (hinting at the rift's creation) and that things change.
  • While this did not occur, the idea was reused to form the cold open of The Last Mabelcorn, with the main difference being that by this point Ford was aware of the rift and what Bill would have meant by it being of use to him.

Cryptograms

End page.

• After Young Fiddleford stuck his head through the portal, he says YROO XRKSVI GIRZMTOV backwards. Once this Atbash cryptogram is decoded, this reads BILL CIPHER TRIANGLE. (Old Man McGucket said this previously in one of his memories in "Society of the Blind Eye.")

• The ending cryptogram is 23 5-4-3-22-22-9-6-10 4-9-3-17-16 10-19-1 14-19-6-5-19-25 10-23-4-15-2-19 18-15-12-22-6-15-21-13 1-23-5-10'4 4-9-9 21-6-19-23-4-15-2-19 16-23-2-15-10-17 4-1-15-10-5 1-23-5 10-9-4 16-15-5 8-12-23-10 5-9 16-19 14-3-5-4 5-16-6-3-17-17-19-20 23-10-20 10-23-11-19-20 22-9-4-16 5-4-23-10. Once decoded it reads A STUBBORN TOUGH NEW JERSEY NATIVE, FILBRICK WASN'T TOO CREATIVE. HAVING TWINS WAS NOT HIS PLAN, SO HE JUST SHRUGGED AND NAMED BOTH STAN.

Key: SIXER

• The code at the end, TIZOLHAJSIW CKMMWZPMKQ: GLY KJQBH can be decoded using the Vigenere cipher, and the key SIXER, to reveal the message BACKUPSMORE UNIVERSITY: YOU TRIED.
• The key to the cipher can be found on the map in the Stans' room all the way to the right.
• On the scene where Ford is writing the page Floating Cliff, a symbol code can be seen on the top right corner of the Journal, with some parts covered up by his fingers. when decoded, it reads(dash is the covered parts) MY COMPASS GOES HAYWIRE THE CLOSER I GET TO THEM. DOES THIS MEAN I THINK IT DOES ? THE ANSWER MAY BE UNDERGROUND.

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