"Princess Butterfly" is the nineteenth episode of the Disney Jr. animated series Sofia the First. It premiered on October 11, 2013.
Plot[]
The princes and princesses are excited for the All Hallows Eve Costume Ball, especially Princess Amber, who's determined to win the Costume Contest for the third year in a row. However, the Fairies have made a small change to the rules of the contest: The students have to make their own costumes by themselves. Princess Sofia is excited to get started, but the other princesses are dismayed, especially Amber, who's never done any sewing in her life.
At home, Amber tries to make her costume, but she can't even get the thread into the needle. Sofia comes by and offers to show her big sister how to sew her costume as she threads the needle. Amber declines Sofia's offer and claiming she's doing fine, tries to start sewing once Sofia leaves, but she winds up pricking her finger. Sometime later, just as Amber is about to give up after struggling with a length of cloth around herself, she hears Queen Miranda compliment Sofia on her costume. Amber goes to Sofia's bedroom and sees that Sofia has made a beautiful silver swan dress. Knowing that Sofia is sure to win the costume contest this year, Amber is disappointed but then comes up with the idea to go to Cedric for a spell that would give her a magnificent costume. At first, Cedric disapproves of the idea of using magic to win, but he gives her some magic powder to sprinkle over herself, a spell word to activate it, and instructions to do so just before her entrance at the ball. He assures her this will give her a great costume, but it turns out to be another plot to get Sofia's amulet.
At the costume ball, Sofia gains a lot of attention when everybody sees her beautiful swan costume. Everybody is sure that she will win the contest. Having made the excuse that she will change clothes at the school, Amber uses her spell to turn her gown into a realistic butterfly costume, and she wins the costume contest. But there's one big problem: when she gets home, she can't remove the costume as it turns out that Amber is now an actual human butterfly! She goes to Cedric to help undo the spell, who claims he doesn't know "what went wrong" and decides to use a potion to undo it. But he tells her he needs a large, purple gem as an ingredient, then 'realizes' that the one from Sofia's amulet would be perfect. Amber doesn't want to take Sofia's amulet, and she decides to go to the fairies instead, but Cedric tells her that if she does, she must tell them that she cheated by using magic to make her costume. Hoping she can just borrow it, Amber asks if she would get the jewel back afterwards, but Cedric says it would be an ingredient that would be used up in the spell. Not wanting to face the music or give up her new trophy, Amber reluctantly decides that she has to get Sofia's amulet. After she leaves, Cedric crows that he'll soon have the Amulet of Avalor and with it the power to take over the kingdom, but just in case, he orders Wormwood to keep an eye on Amber and make sure she follows through.
The next day, Amber decides to trick Sofia into taking off her amulet. She comes up with the story that it would be fun to "dress up for school" together, drops by Sofia's room, and offers to let her little sister wear her pixie costume from last year. Amber says that Sofia would have to take the amulet off to put the costume on. But as she tries to remove the amulet, James reminds his sisters that it's time to leave for school, which means that Sofia doesn't have time to change clothes. At school, everybody is wondering why Amber is wearing her "costume" to school, and Amber claims that she loves All Hallows Eve so much that she's decided to celebrate a little longer. Flora luckily accepts this explanation, but expects Amber to wear her regular gown tomorrow.
During gym class, Amber asks Sofia to demonstrate going upside-down on the uneven bars. As Sofia is on the bars, Amber tries to remove her amulet, but Sofia gets down quickly, now suspicious that Amber's up to something. Outside, Amber throws her drink at Sofia's gown from behind and tries to take the amulet, but Sofia now knows that her big sister is definitely up to something since she never trips and never spills anything. Amber's cover is blown when her butterfly wings send her flying, and she winds up telling Sofia that she used magic to make her costume, that the spell went wrong, and Cedric said that he needs the amulet to undo it. Sofia decides to give Amber her amulet to get back to normal and takes it off, but Amber then changes her mind and refuses to take it, because she admits it was wrong to cheat and it's not worth Sofia giving up something she loves because Amber made a terrible mistake. However, Wormwood sees where this is all going and snatches the Amulet instead. Amber flies after him while Sofia gets Minimus from the stables, and they chase Wormwood around and into the school, getting the attention of their classmates. Amber directs Sofia to go around in the other direction so they can surprise and corner him. When the sisters meet up in the ballroom, Sofia's sudden appearance in front of Wormwood startles him into dropping the amulet, which Amber catches; Sofia then has Minimus drive the raven out an open window and kick it closed.
Sofia decides it would be good to take it to Cedric now, but Amber has a better idea. Amber confesses to the fairies that she cheated by using magic to make her costume instead of making it herself because she was jealous of Sofia when she saw her swan costume. But now, Amber knows that she shouldn't have been jealous of her little sister and that she should appreciate her because Sofia would do anything for her. While the fairies express disappointment in Amber for cheating and tell her that she has to return the trophy, they are pleased that she realized her mistake and learned from it, and they easily undo the spell. Sofia and Amber agree to work on the costumes together next time and happily walk out hand in hand.
Home Video Release[]
Song[]
Cast[]
- Ariel Winter as Princess Sofia
- Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
- Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
- Zach Callison as Prince James
- Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
- Barbara Dirickson as Flora
- Russi Taylor as Fauna
- Jim Cummings as Wormwood
- Coco Grayson as Princess Hildegard
- Sabrina Carpenter as Princess Vivian
- Karan Brar as Prince Zandar
- Brian Lee as Prince Jin
- Michaela Zee as Princess Jun
- Harley Graham as Princess Clio
- Eric Stonestreet as Minimus
Gallery[]
Goofs[]
- As Amber approaches the stage to receive the trophy, doubles of Prince Derek (marching band costume), Prince Frederick (giraffe costume), and an unnamed prince (samurai warrior costume) are seen in the crowd in front of her and behind her.
- When Amber and Sofia arrive at school the next day, Prince Frederick is seen walking behind them, but in the next scene, he is with Jin and Zandar in the playground.
Trivia[]
- This is the second time Sofia takes off the Amulet. The first was in "The Amulet of Avalor".
- A few moments after the beginning of the episode, Hildegard mentions Queen Clarion.
- The spell Cedric gives Amber, "Lepidop Leonidas", is a combination of Latin and Greek words. Lepidop derived from the Latin word Lepidoptra, meaning an order of insects comprising of butterflies and moths, and Leonidas, which translates into Lion-like, and is the name of a Spartan king.
- There is a slight running gag in this episode involving James, Prince Zandar, and Prince Jin when in their costumes. Both James and Zandar are unable to find each other and complete their costume until the very end of the contest, and Jin's costume of armor is difficult to wear. Since it is real armor, and Jin is barely in double digits, he twice falls over due to the weight of it, gasps out that he is okay, and is then helped up by Prince Khalid.
- Sofia's talent as a seamstress is shown at its full potential for the first time.
- This is the second time Amber becomes jealous of Sofia after the premiere.
- This is also the second time there is a brief hostility between Sofia and Wormwood after Once Upon a Princess.
- The dialogue "Is that a bird... Is that a flying horse ... Is that Amber?" of some Royal Prep students in the school house is similar to the quote about Superman: "It's a bird... It's a plane... It's Superman".
- Many of the costumes seen in this episode would be reused for the end performance of "Sidekick Clio".
- This is the first episode where the plot focuses more on Amber than on Sofia.
- Moral: Never resort to cheating or thievery because it never pays.
