Cry Wolf (Fireman Sam)

"Cry Wolf"
"Cry Fox" would have been a better name for this episode.
Series: Fireman Sam Part of Season: 6 Episode Number: 19 Air Date: 5 December 2008 (UK) 3 March 2015 (US) Writer: Andrew Brenner Previous episode: "A Sticky Situation" Next episode: "Sheep on the Road"

"Cry Wolf" is the 19th episode of the 6th season of Fireman Sam

Summary

Dilys' shop gets a new manual fire alarm installed in it, but naughty Norman Price hit it on purpose twice. One time accidentally, & the other using a screwdriver to break the glass on it in order to try & get his football back that his mom confiscated from him.

Because of this, Sam tells Norman the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", which ends up in Norman getting grounded. But when a fox wanders into a shop & Dilys and Norman thinks that it's a wolf, Norman has to hit the alarm with his football to call Fireman Sam, but will Sam believe him this time?

Why It Was Caught Crying Wolf

1. In this episode, Norman is at his most devious, lying to his mother and the fire brigade about breaking the fire alarm not just once but twice.
2. It employs the "three strikes, you're out" formukla, but the implementation is lacking.
   • Norman played football inside the supermarket and broke the fire alarm. He then had Sam and Elvis turn off the fire alarm.
   • He set the fire alarm off again, only this time, using a screwdriver to unscrew the box and break the glass.
   • We then get the third occurrence of the same thing, except the only difference was that Norman had to get the fire brigade involved for a real emergency (despite the emergency not being a fire).
3. Charlie and Bronwyn had no reason or purpose for being in this episode, only to pan out the time; both were boring and acted more as plot elements than characters.
4. Dilys and Norman mistakingly thought that the fox was a wolf. It can be safe to say that the writers were either dumbed down or brain-dead to realise that exact mistake.
5. Steven Kynman's voice here as Norman Price is already bad enough, but this is where the voice gets even more grating, especially during Norman's apology to Dilys.
   • Even Carter Treneer from the US dub did a bad job here since it also come across as grating, which is strange since Carter at least does a better job at imitating a child.
6. Plot Hole: Foxes are nocturnal animals, which you would only find during the night. So why was a fox out and about in the shop during the daytime?
7. Terrible moral: If you see a fox or any wild animals in your home, jump up on the counter and scream like hobos or hide somewhere they can't see you - doing that in real life would cost you your life or worse! Instead, you should back away slowly and maintain eye content if a wolf sees you; having a wild animal from behind you could also have their predatory instincts kick in.
8. Norman's actions, as mentioned in WIWCCW #1, were just as bad as his complaining about Sam's warnings of his lies. He even cries for the first time in the series, and it can get on your last nerves very quickly (although he was being truthful at the very end of this episode).

Redeeming Qualities

1. Everyone (except Norman) is likeable in this episode.
   • Elvis isn't flanderised like he usually is.
   • Despite Charlie and Bronwyn being filler-inducing plot devices in this episode, they're still likeable characters.
2. Sam's story about "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was enough to make Norman realise that lying gets you nowhere in life.
3. At least Norman got grounded for being an absolute pain in this episode, which was karma for playing ball inside the house and causing the fire alarm to go off.
4. Good ending: Norman was sane enough to apologise to both Sam and Elvis verbally once he realised the mistakes he caused. However, he forgets about everything he had learned from this episode in the next episode.

Reception

As of being one of the worst episodes so far in history, it currently has a 3.0 in IMDb.Here's what one reviewer said about the episode.

Cry Wolf or Cry Fox

"This seems another one of those Fireman Sam episodes with Norman Price at his worst. After his ma Dilys has a new fire alarm system installed in the shop, Norman sets it off, although first time accidentally (could've broke anything else accidentally with his football) then does it deliberately. I wonder LazyTown episode Ghost Stoppers copied this with Trixie jokingly scaring everyone, then no-one believes her of a ghost in school (Robbie Rotten).

Oh, and some hate or find UK voice performance of Norman unlistenable especially in this episode Norman (crying and scared): I'm sorry mom! It was me who set off the alarm. I just wanted my ball back!!

Surely seems idiotic why Dilys and Norman couldn't realise it was a fox that snuck into the shop, and called it a wolf (bit a similarity).

At least, Sam and Elvis end the episode with a classic: Sam: I don't think Norman will be crying wolf again.

Elvis: Or don't you mean "Cry Fox"? (Laughter, LOL!)"

MarkLynnIreland1294

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