01x34 - Busy as a Spelling Bee

[bunniefuu]

[upbeat music playing]

Look, Dinah, it's a present
from my pen pal Yvette.

I wonder what it is.

In her last letter, she said
she was sending me something.

Look at this. A real French hat.

Oh, Yvette wrote a little note
to go with it.

"Dear Alice, I bought you this hat
in Paris. I hope you like it.

It's called a beret."

Hm. It's spelled B-E-R-E-T, Dinah.

But I wonder if "beret" is how you say it.

Well, I know one place that's a lot of fun
no matter how you say it.

[theme music playing]

♪ Hold on to your seat
Let's go for a ride ♪

♪ Now that we're here
On the other side ♪

♪ Use your imagination
And you'll understand ♪

♪ It's an adventure in Wonderland ♪

♪ Every day is something new ♪

♪ With music, rhyme and a dance or two ♪

♪ It's a curious place
With a wonderful crew ♪

♪ And you're never quite sure
What they will do ♪

♪ Use your imagination
You'll understand ♪

♪ It's an adventure in Wonderland ♪

♪ Adventure in Wonderland ♪

♪ Adventure in Wonderland ♪

Mail call!

Mail call!

-[brakes screech]
-[crashing]

Oh! [laughs]
Sorry. I thought you were back there.

-Hi, Mr. Rabbit.
-Oh, hello, Alice.

-Mail, please. [clears throat]
-Yes, Your Majesty. Uh...

"Queen.

Queen. Queen.

Resident royalty."

-A-ha! It came at last. Oh, joy.
-What came, Mr. Rabbit?

My first selection
to the Carrot of the Month Club.

Oh, well, let's see what I've got.

Oh, good.

Thank you notes from my subjects
for the gifts I gave them.

-What gifts, Your Majesty?
-Autographed pictures of me.

Suitable for framing.

"Dear Your Majesty:
Thank you for the picture.

You are a very petty queen."

Petty? What?

Petty? How dare they say
that you are unimportant.

I don't think they meant petty.

They meant pretty.
They just misspelled it.

Hm...

So they meant you are a very pretty queen?

Oh! Now, how can such a smart person
be such a poor speller?

Oh, I have absolutely no idea.

Well, I'll read the next note.

[clears throat]

"Dear Your Majesty:

Thanks for the picture. It is a good one.

Even my cat licked it."

-What?
-His cat licked it?

Oh, no. I think he meant, liked it.
His cat liked it.

He just put in an extra C.

I do see. I see my subjects can't spell.

All these spelling mistakes.

"Your Royal Pineness"?

"I depreciate your gift"?

-Oh, harrumph!
-[blues music playing]

♪ I can't believe this mercy's sakes ♪

♪ All of these letters
Have spelling mistakes ♪

♪ If you don't write it right
I might get the wrong idea ♪

♪ If you're writing me a thank you note
Don't leave those words misspelled ♪

♪ Check for spelling errors
Before that letter's mailed ♪

"I'll cherish it for never"?

"Yours truly"? Oh, really!

♪ I think we all could benefit
If you brushed up on your penmanship ♪

♪ If you don't write it right
I might get the wrong idea ♪

♪ If you're writing me a thank you note
Don't leave those words misspelled ♪

♪ Check for spelling errors
Before that letter's mailed ♪

♪ 'Cause if you don't write it right
I might get the wrong idea! ♪

Oh! This is a terrible problem.

-Why can't my subjects spell better?
-I can.

-B-E-T-T-E-R, better.
-Oh!

I meant how can I encourage people
to be better spellers?

That is,
how can I make them want to do it?

You could hold a spelling bee.

Hold a bee? That sounds dangerous.

No, a spelling bee isn't a real bee.

It's a spelling contest.
We have one every year in school.

A contest, you say?

Hm...

That certainly might encourage everyone
to be better spellers. Hm.

Perfect. That's what I'll do.

-We will?
-Yes.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00,
we'll have a royal spelling bee.

Go spread the word, Rabbit.
And don't misspell it.

Oh, how could I misspell "bee"?

B-E.

-E.
-E?

B-E-E-E?

No. Just two E's for this kind of bee.

Oh! [stammers] Uh, yes.


King me. [laughs]

One for you.

-And one for you.
-What's this?

It's an announcement.
The queen is having a spelling bee.

Uh, that's a spelling contest,
tomorrow afternoon.

What are you doing?

Uh, aren't you interested
in the spelling contest?

Look, Rabbit,
being a good speller is important.

But we've got better things to do
than stand around and spell words.

Besides, according to your announcement,
the winner doesn't even get a prize.

Not true, not true.

The winner gets the queen's respect
and admiration.

But, uh, you have to come to the contest.

Everyone but everyone in Wonderland
will be there.

I doubt that.

But I've already posted
all of these announcements.

If you don't come,
you'll be the only ones to miss out.

Ha. Rabbit, let me borrow your phone.

-My what?
-Your phone.

Hm.

-My phone?
-Let me show you. Yeah. [chuckles]

-[line dialing]
-Hello?

-Cat.
-Hm?

-Dee.
-Ah.

Listen, do you want to be
in a spelling contest tomorrow?

Mm. That depends. What are the prizes?

There are no prizes.

[purrs] Sorry.

Tomorrow I have to go shopping
for a new scratching post.

-Bye-bye.
-Bye-bye.

He's not interested.

Face it, Rabbit.

If the queen wants to encourage
everyone to enter her spelling contest,

-she'd better make it more interesting.
-[yelps]

How am I going to tell her that?

She thinks that all her ideas
are already interesting.

Not that they aren't, of course!

Maybe she needs a little help.

Say, from a couple of guys
with great imaginations?

That's right.

Maybe this spelling bee can work
if she lets us work on it.

All right.
So, what do you suggest we do first?

Well, you need to give the winner a prize,
something really special.

Hm. How about dinner for two
at the palace?

Including dessert?

-Why not?
-[clears throat]

I don't mean to be a stick in the mud,

but exactly who will be cooking
this dinner?

You, naturally.

But what if I win the spelling contest.

Well, you could cook a really nice dinner
for yourself, and a guest, of course.

What a thrill.

Next, Your Majesty. You need
to add something to the spelling bee.

Add something to it? Like what?

-Picture this.
-Oh!

Instead of a simple spelling bee,

you put on a spelling bee
and bowling tournament.

A spelling bowl.

[funk music playing]

♪ You need all of the right letters
And a good roll ♪

♪ Then you might win the spelling bowl ♪

♪ This is a beaver as you can see ♪

♪ If you spell the word right
You're still not quite home free ♪

♪ Because it's also a bowl
And a bee on a roll ♪

♪ Strikes and spells must be the goal ♪

♪ Well, you must use your know-how ♪

♪ To knock all the ten pins down ♪

♪ If you do this every time ♪

♪ You'll be a bowler of renown ♪

♪ But then you must use your knowledge
To make sure you spell "correct" ♪

♪ If every vowel and consonant is right
A prize you will collect ♪

♪ You need all of the right letters
And a good roll ♪

♪ Then you might win the spelling bowl ♪

What does bowling have to do
with a spelling contest?

-Absolutely nothing.
-But bowling is fun.

And it's a great way to get everyone
to enter your contest.

-I love it.
-We knew it.

I don't get it.

Actually, Your Majesty,
we already made a poster for you to see.

"Come to the Wonderland Speling Bowl."

I believe the word "spelling"
has two L's in it.

Right. We're gonna fix that.

[playing upbeat jazz music]

Yo, yo, yo, just the caterpillar
we were looking for.

Have you heard about the spelling bowl?

-The what?
-The spelling bowl.

It's a combination bowling tournament
and spelling bee.

Interesting.

I've met a few bees who could spell,
but I've never seen a bee go bowling.

No. See, a spelling bee isn't the kind
of bee that flies and buzzes.

That's what you think.

As a matter of fact, I have a story here
about a friend of mine.

Once there was a bumblebee named Laverne,
who had a very important job.

She was in charge of painting signs

to tell the other bees
where to find flowers.

But Laverne wasn't a very good speller.

Instead of spelling flower F-L-O-W-E-R,

she would misspell it F-L-O-U-R,
like the kind of flour in a cake.

And that wasn't
the right kind of flower at all.

The other bees were so confused
by Laverne's signs,

they complained to her bumble-boss,

who ordered Laverne
to study the dictionary

until she was a better spelling bee.

So Laverne practiced and practiced...

until she was the best spelling bee
in the whole hive.

She could even spell "chrysanthemum."

And from then on, Laverne never spelled
flower F-L-O-U-R unless she meant it.

So you were right. There is such a thing
as a real spelling bee.

Naturally.

Although when it comes
to bugs who can spell,

caterpillars are a bit better than bees.

Then you'll be coming
to the spelling bowl.

I don't think so.

It wouldn't be fair
to the others in the contest.

Why not?

Not only am I an expert speller,
but when it comes to bowling,

I am at least three times
as good as anyone else.

-Bye-bye.
-Bye-bye.

A spelling and bowling contest?
That's strange.

It sounds like fun to me.

Gosh, I can't remember
the last time I went bowling.

Oh, I do.

It was two years ago this Monday.

You were wearing your blue bowling shirt
because you spilled tea on your green one.

That's right.

If we're going bowling tomorrow,
we'd better get ready.

-Let's split.
-Spare me.

[both laughing]

-How do we look?
-You look great.

Well, you do look like you're ready
to go bowling.

But what about the spelling part
of the contest?

No problem.
Why do you think we have these bags?

To carry your bowling ba*ls?

No, no, no. To carry our dictionaries.

We'll study these babies
until there isn't a word we can't spell.

-You're through studying already?
-Speed reading.

This whole dictionary is all up here.

[pop music playing]

♪ Pick a word, any word
From acropolis to prairie ♪

♪ We can spell them all now
Every word in the dictionary ♪

♪ That's a lot of memory spent
Spell "antidisestablishment" ♪

♪ A-N-T-I-D-I-S-- ♪

♪ The part that I like best ♪

♪ E-S-T-A-B-L-I-S-H-M-E-N-T ♪

-♪ My, that was great ♪
-♪ It's elementary ♪

♪ Elementary, E-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y ♪

♪ That's one for me ♪

♪ Pick a word, any word
From forever to temporary ♪

♪ We can spell them all now
Every word in the dictionary ♪

♪ Yes, every word from A to Z
Arpeggio to zealotry ♪

♪ Okay, spell "multidimensional" ♪

♪ All right, but it's so conventional
M-U-L-T-I-D-I-M-E-N-S-I-O-N-A-L ♪

-♪ How was that? ♪
-♪ Really swell ♪

♪ Pick a word, any word
From dinosaur to canary ♪

♪ We can spell them all now
Every word in the dictionary ♪

-Whoa!
-Whoa!

-Whoa!
-Whoa!

Go ahead, Alice. Try me.
I'll spell any word in the dictionary.

All right, spell "dictionary."

Wow.

Not so fast. The Hatter said
any word in the dictionary.

And as you can plainly see,
"dictionary" is on the dictionary.

Now, don't be too hard on her.
She's just a child.

I'll spell something else.
How about "hat"? H-A-T, hat.

Well-spelled, Hatter.

My turn, Alice.

Okay.

Can you spell "listen"?

Listen.

L-I-S-E-N.

-Hare, I think you forgot the T.
-Oh, of course.

Mmm! Oh, that's better.
Spelling words makes my throat dry.

No, Mr. Hare.

He means the word "listen" has a T in it.

It's spelled L-I-S-T-E-N.
The T is a silent letter.

It's there, but you don't say it.

Well, you might have told me that
before I started spelling.

But then I would have had
to spell the word for you.

How true that is.

All right, this time, I'll warn you.

Here's a word with two silent letters.

Do you know how to spell "know"?

Alice, there can't be two silent letters
in "no."

It only has two letters, N-O.

If they were both silent,
it would sound like this.

[both mouthing] No.

No, I mean "know" with the K and the W.

K-N-O-W. You know?

We know there's no way
you're going to win the spelling bee

unless you know how to spell "no."

-We'd better help her study.
-Yeah, let's warm up slowly.

[grunting and groaning]

Oh, here's an easy one.
Spell "chrysanthemum".

[quirky music playing]

-[bowling pins crashing]
-Yes! Oh.

Could you practice a little more quietly?
I'm trying to study my spellings.

Sorry, but when you're bowling,
it's hard to be quiet as a mouse.

Mouse, a favorite word of mine to spell.

Mouse. Mmm.

M-O-U-S-E.

Mouse. [meows]

Not bad, huh?

You can see what I mean
Even if you can't see me. [cackles]

That's pretty good, Cat.
Can you spell the plural of mouse?

-As in more than one mouse?
-[Dum] That's right.

Of course.

Mmm. M-I-C-E.

Mice. Mmm.

I like plurals even better.

♪ Two mice are twice as nice ♪

Excuse me, but if I'm going to knock down
more than one pin,

do you mind if I get back
to practicing my bowling?

Of course not.

Looks like you need
all the practice you can get.

All right, all right.

-Two bowlers to go. Alice?
-Thank you, Your Majesty.

-[Hare] Come on, Alice!
-[Hatter] Go, Alice!

-Yeah!
-Go! Go!

[suspenseful music playing]

[cheering]

Alice scores a perfect 10!

[whooping and laughing]

Well done, Alice.

Next up, our final contestant,
the White Rabbit.

Go, Rabbit!

[yelling indistinctly]

Oh, dear. This ball seems
to be a rather tight fit. Oh, well.

-[Hatter] Come on, Rabbit! Come on!
-[Alice] Come on!

[yelling]

Rabbit scores 20!

Ten for knocking down all the pins...

[whooping]

and 10 for creativity.

[whooping and laughing]

[Dee] Go, Rabbit!

-Quite a goal there.
-Well, no pain, no gain, I suppose.

May I have everyone's attention.

That concludes the bowling portion
of our contest.

There will be a ten-minute break,

following which
we will begin the spelling bee.

[chattering]

I have here
the official spelling bee word list.

I will call out the words,
and the contestant must spell them.

A misspelled word gets a:

-[buzzes]
-[groaning]

And a properly spelled word gets a:

-[chimes, then fanfare plays]
-Ah!

Now, on with the contest. Alice.

Your word is "blew."

Blue as in the color,

or blew as in "the wind blew,"
Your Majesty?

I'm afraid I can't tell you that.

Well, both words are spelled differently
even though they sound alike.

-How do I know which one you mean?
-You'll have to guess.

Well, I guess-- I guess.

The color blue.

B-L-U-E, blue.

-[chimes]
-[cheering]

Congratulations, Alice.
You spelled the word "blue" correctly.

Great.

[buzzes]

Unfortunately, I meant "blew",
as in the wind, which is B-L-E-W.

-Next, Hare.
-[Rabbit groans]

-[clears throat] Mm-hm?
-Your word is "sent."

Oh, no problem.

This is one of those silent letter words.

A scent, meaning a smell, is spelled S-C--

The silent letter.

E-N-T.

Scent.

-[chimes]
-[Red Queen] Right!

[buzzes]

However, I meant "sent",
as in "I sent a postcard,"

which has no silent letters at all.

And it's spelled S-E-N-T, sent.

-[Hare] Oh.
-Next.

[all groaning]

All right, I am thinking
of a number from one to ten.

Three!

T-H-R-E-E.

Right spelling, wrong number. Next.

Two, T-W-O?

Right spelling, wrong number again. Next.

Uh, if I guess seven, would I be right?

-No.
-Then, I guess the number eight.

E-I-G-H-T.

Sorry. Well spelled,
but I was thinking of the number nine.

N-I-N-E.

Oh.

Last contestant.

-Come on. Come on.
-Go, go.

Spell the word "encourage."

[all] Oh!

Uh, that's a pretty hard word,
Your Majesty.

Could I spell something else?

Well, I suppose so.
What would you like to spell?

Carrot.

C-A-R-R-O-T. Carrot.

"Carrot" was indeed
spelled correctly, Rabbit.

-Yeah!
-Yeah!

However, "carrot" was not on my list
of official spelling bee words.

-Oh, well.
-That's the strangest spelling bee.

-Nobody won.
-Not true, Alice.

Right. We may not have spelled
the words on the queen's list.

But the ones we did spell,
we spelled correctly.

Exactly.

Yes, and after all,
that's what a spelling bee is all about.

Becoming a better speller.

Gee, I never thought of it like that.

So, in a way, I guess we all won.

[pop music playing]

♪ We're all winners ♪

♪ We're all winners ♪

♪ There's so many games
We all played to win ♪

♪ Sharing games with friends
Is just so much more ♪

♪ Don't set your sights
On the final outcome ♪

♪ You can win
And you don't always have to keep score ♪

♪ Just remember these words of advice ♪

♪ I've said it once before
And now I've said it twice ♪

♪ You can win at anything
When you don't keep score ♪

♪ A trophy is nice
But there's so much more ♪

♪ We're all winners
I think we all won ♪

♪ We learned so much
And we had some fun ♪

♪ We're all winners
We're all winners ♪

Wonderful!

I hereby declare that everyone wins.

Oh, but what about the prizes?

Right. The winner was supposed to get
dinner for two at the palace.

No problem.

Since you're all winners,

I'm sure the Rabbit won't mind
cooking dinner at the palace for everyone.

-All right!
-[chattering]

Dinah, if I want to know
how to pronounce the name

of this hat Yvette sent to me,

I could just use my dictionary.

Let's see.

B-E-R-E-T.

There. I thought so.

The T is a silent letter.
So it's pronounced "beret."

So, Dinah, how do I look?
You're not saying, huh?

That's okay.

If "beret" can have a silent T, I guess
I shouldn't mind having a silent cat.

[theme music playing]

♪ That's all for now
But we'll see you again ♪

♪ Come back real soon
Now that we're all friends ♪

♪ Where every day is something new ♪

♪ With music, rhyme and a dance or two ♪

♪ Use your imagination
And you'll understand ♪

♪ It's an adventure in Wonderland ♪

♪ Adventure in Wonderland ♪

♪ Adventures in Wonderland ♪