Postcards from the Ed

"Postcards from the Ed" is the 24th episode of Season 4 and 101st episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Plank's parents are visiting the Cul-de-Sac and Jonny entasks Ed to give them the time of their lives. Eddy, after a while, decides to help show Plank's parents around the Cul-de-Sac by kidnapping them and showing them around on a makeshift tour bus as he plans to get a lot of money from the tour he gives to Plank's parents. Ed and Edd must now retrieve Plank's parents from Eddy before something bad happens to them.

Plot
The episode starts with the kids gathered besides a giant mock-up of the Sphinx. Rolf is amazed by it, saying it was foretold by the soothsayers. Edd then walks out and introduces himself as an Egyptologist. Edd leads them inside, and along the way points out some interesting hieroglyphics. When asked by Jimmy what they are, however, he finds it impossible to decipher them; things get worse when Sarah guesses that her brother drew them. Thankfully, there's a passageway beside him that happens to be the next stop on the tour. Edd leads them through the passageway, which opens up into the room with the sarcophagus. Eddy greets the kids, and introduces the mummy as the great King Tuckyershirtin. He and Edd then pull out some crowbars and pry the great tomb open.

Unfortunately for Eddy's scam, there's nothing in the box. He and Edd stare inside in disbelief. At that moment, Ed walks in wearing toilet paper and eating a sandwich, saying he was grabbing lunch. Eddy angrily tells him to act like a mummy, and Ed does, but by now the kids have left, their suspension of disbelief broken and mangled. Eddy runs outside the sphinx, trying to catch them, but by now they're long gone. Even worse, some dust flies up Ed's nose, and he sneezes the tomb away. As Eddy fights with Ed, Edd arrives wearing one of the boxes with an eye painted on it over his head. Jonny then walks up with two boards and introduces them to the Eds.

After introductions have been made, Jonny walks the pieces of wood to another part of the construction site so they can take pictures. After he's done this, he leaves them there and comes back to the Eds. He then reveals to them that both he and Plank are worn out; Plank's Mom and Dad have seemingly boundless energy as tourists. Ed, sympathetic but stupid, offers to take care of them for a while so Jonny can rest, and Jonny instantly accepts. Eddy is annoyed by this, but Edd is willing to support his friend. Eddy, hearing this, gives up and says he's going home. Eddy does so and spends some time alone reading a magazine before suddenly getting an idea.

Meanwhile, Ed and Edd are happily showing Plank's parents around the neighborhood. Edd is in the middle of pointing out an oak tree when Eddy runs into their tour with a giant cardboard bus. Eddy swiftly grabs the two boards, sets them on top of the bus in chairs, and suggests that they join his "Deluxe Tour Line". He then instructs Ed to give him a push. Ed happily does so, and Eddy goes flying down the street. A few seconds after he's shoved the bus, though, it occurs to Ed that Eddy just kidnapped his charges. He races after the bus while Edd begs Ed to come back and free him from the tree he's stuck in. Ed, unable to catch up to the bus, comes back and pulls Edd loose. Ed then worriedly complains that Eddy has stolen his responsibles.

While Eddy takes Plank's parents on a tour of the cul-de-sac that includes The Great Mountains of Cul-de-Sacia and a viewing of the Diaper-Rash Boy and his cohort the Frog-Mouth Brat, Ed and Edd search for Eddy. Ed's search starts at Eddy's room, much to Edd's annoyance. However, when Edd spots Eddy's cologne, he gets an idea and has Ed sniff it. Ed is able to track Eddy by the scent, and they follow his path. When they catch up with him, he's at the playground showing Plank's mother and father the world's oldest blade of grass and largest litter box (the sandbox). As he does this, he upsells them expensive junk as memorabilia, saying that it'll all go on Jonny's tab.

When his friends call to him, however, he pulls up the stopper and starts rolling again. Eddy's bus swerves through the playground, passing under what Eddy calls "The Great Monkey Bar Bridge". At this bridge, tragedy strikes, as the bus is built too tall. As Eddy and Plank's parents are on the roof of the bus, they have to duck. While Eddy is easily able to do this, his customers are not, and they break their necks on the monkey bars. Their heads fly off and land on Ed and Edd, who peel them off and scream. Eddy, attention drawn by the calamity, looks away from where he's going for a split second. This second is long enough for the bus to crash into a tree and fly backward, landing on Ed and Edd.

Once Ed and Edd crawl out from the wreckage, they are quick to point out the damage to Eddy. Edd worries about what this will do to Jonny mentally; unfortunately for him, he doesn't have to worry long, as Jonny arrives and quickly tallies up the sight. He screams and asks Ed if he really thinks this is how to show someone a good time. Ed pleads innocence and singles out Eddy as the culprit. Eddy simply grins and tells Jonny that he did indeed show Plank's parents the time of their life. He then tallies up the bill Jonny will have to pay, much to Edd's disgust. Jonny isn't willing to pay, however, as he's too angry to even consider paying for the murder of his best friend's parents. Instead, he tells Eddy that he'll be the one paying, as Plank knows people.

Later that afternoon, the Eds are stuck up a tree. Below them are several wood toughs, a sort of wood mafia if you will. While Eddy thinks their situation is stupid, Ed is throughly scared of the boards below them, and Edd doesn't want to anger them, as even he is scared. The episode closes with the Eds in peril from those Plank knows.

Memorable Quotes

 * Rolf: "Behold the shrine of Egypt, as foretold by the soothsayers!"

Sarah: [looking at the fake, familiar hieroglyphs] "My stupid brother drew these didn't he?"
 * Rolf: [when Edd confesses he can't read the fake hieroglyphs] "Oho, the ancients ones have stumped the know-it-all Ed-boy."


 * Rolf: [listening to Eddy's spiel] "Rolf's porridge quivers at this baloney."


 * Ed: [after sneezing the "tomb" away] "Dusty!"

Eddy: "They're hunks of wood, for cryin' out loud! Just leave 'em here!" Ed: [horrified] "No way, Jose!"
 * Ed: [looking at Plank's parents] "Hello, mother and father of Plank. Remember me? I am Ed! And I will be your guide today."


 * Eddy: [sulking] "I got better things to do than be some tour guide to a couple of floorboards!" [Eddy goes home and reads a magazine; later, he goes to the bathroom and suddenly gets an idea] "A TOUR GUIDE! THAT'S IT!" [flushes toilet]


 * Ed: [seeing Eddy make off with Plank's parents] "Eddy kidnapped my responsibles, Double D!"

Edd: "Ed, his room would be the last place Eddy would've brought them!"
 * Ed: "Come out, come out, wherever you are, mister! Unhand Plank's mommy and daddy!"


 * Edd: "Find the Eddy, Ed!"

Ed: [not impressed with Edd's humor] "Not funny, Double D."
 * Edd: [showing Plank's parents around the neighborhood] "And over to our right, you'll notice an exquisite example of one of our indigenous anthills! Oh, little things, aren't they? Ooh! And here we have a prodigious old oak tree! Yes indeed. Perhaps a relative, yes? Amusing, don't you think?


 * Eddy: [showing Plank's parents around the dump] "Behold the great mountains of Cul-de-Sacia! It took a gazillion years of slag to form these puppies. Note the stench. Priceless!"

Sarah: [trying to push a dolls pram] "Hey! Move this stupid box out of our way!" Eddy: [ignoring Sarah and talking to the Planks] "It's your lucky day! Just recently escaped from the neighborhood zoo, it's Sarah the frog-mouthed brat and the diaper-rash boy Jimmy!" Jimmy: [looking accusingly out of the pram at Sarah] "You told him! I thought you were my friend!"
 * Eddy: [showing Plank's parents around the road] "Hang onto your sawdust folks! It's a one of a kind, only on Eddy's Deluxe Tour Lines: a manhole cover!"


 * Eddy: [showing Plank's parents around the playground] "Haha! Eyeball this beaut'! I call this one the world's oldest blade of grass! And there! The world's largest litter box! A tour special. I'll just add that to the tab."

Eddy: "Relax, baldy. It's nothing a little glue and a couple of nails won't fix."
 * Jonny: [staring at the pieces of Plank's decapitated parents] "HOLY JUMPING BANANA BOATS!" [covers Plank's eyes] "Don't look, Plank!"


 * Jonny: [threatening the Eds] "You're the one who'll be paying, smarty pants! Plank knows people!"

Edd: "I wouldn't say that too loudly, Eddy. I think they're watching us!" Ed: [frightened] "Make them go away, Double D! Make them go away!" Eddy: "Man, this is stupid."
 * Eddy: "This is all your fault. They're just hunks of wood, for Pete's sake."

Trivia

 * Ed's mummy name, King Tuckyershirtin, is both a parody of the actual Egyptian pharaoh, King Tutankhamun, and a pun of the phrase "Tuck your shirt in."
 * 19th time Kevin is absent.
 * 74th time The Kanker Sisters don't appear.
 * At the beginning of the episode, Rolf is enjoying his time in the cardboard pyramid, however shortly afterwards he calls it "Baloney" and "Hooey" as though he knows it was a scam. It is possible however that Rolf is just mocking the strange ways of the Ancient Egyptians while still enjoying himself, or that he knew it was a scam but was enjoying it regardless.
 * Apparently, if Plank or anyone he knows is threatened, he will send his "wood mafia" to torture the perpetrator(s).
 * Plank's parents make their first and only appearance in this episode. However they appear in a Urban Ranger brochure in "The Good, The Bad and The Ed" indicating that they were repaired at some point between the latter episode and the end of this episode.
 * Before the appearance of Planks' parents, Plank's mother is mentioned in "Ed-n-Seek."
 * The cheap cologne (described as such by Edd) brand that Eddy has in his room is called "MAN STINK."
 * Jonny actually calls Edd by his real name in the beginning of the episode. Most of the time, Edd is called by his nickname "Double D."
 * The hieroglyphs that Edd couldn't decipher consisted of a monobrowed alien next to an odor emitting slice of cheese, buttered toast, television, and an Egyptian feeding King Tuckyershirtin pudding skin. These five are all Ed's obsessions (monster movies, comics, Sheldon, buttered toast, TV, and pudding skin respectively). Ed likes to draw, and this is evidence that the hieroglyphs are the work of Ed.
 * The type of crown on the hieroglyph of King Tuckyershirtin suggests he is the ruler of Lower Egypt.
 * If you look closely when Eddy jumps at Ed and beats him up after Ed sneezes the pyramid away, you can see Eddy has four toes. This is an error, as all the characters are previously shown to have three toes.
 * Eddy was the only one of the Eds' who wasn't afraid of the "wood mafia." This is surprising, as Edd, in most episodes, usually treats Plank like an inanimate object instead of a living being. Usually, he would have treated the wood mafia as nothing but, well, wood.
 * This episode was nominated for a Leo Award back in 2004, for "Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series."
 * Apparently, Jimmy still gets diaper rash, and up to this point, he didn't want anyone else except Sarah to know about that.
 * A running gag in this episode is that Eddy makes ridiculous claims about the Cul-de-Sac to Plank's parents while taking them on his deluxe tour line.