Brain and the Time Capsule

Summary
Brain makes a time capsule and gets overwhelmed by people asking to have their special belongings included with it. Will he make room for his friends, or will he give them the boot?

Plot
In the introduction, Mr. Ratburn presents a time capsule from 1910 to the class and asks them to write down what they would put in such a capsule. Brain wants to do something better.

Brain and the Time Capsule

With the help of his dad, Brain builds a strongbox and tests its durability by asking Binky to destroy it. Binky fails, but when he learns that Brain is making a time capsule, he wants to put something in as well. Brain reluctantly agrees, but asks Binky not to tell anyone else.

The next day, Brain is shocked to learn that Buster and Muffy know about the capsule. Brain does not want to let them put things in, because he wants future generations to get a good impression. He shows Buster and Muffy the brainy items he means to put in. They convince him that the capsule needs more variety.

Despite the kids’ promise not to tell any more people, Brain is soon beleaguered by kids who want to put things in the capsule. He repeatedly refuses Binky's request to put in an Uncle Slam figure. He accepts Muffy's cellphone, but refuses her DVD set and her stuffed toys, even though she tries to bribe him. He reluctantly accepts a Winkie cake from Buster, which is supposed to last way over a hundred years.

Eventually, Brain accepts a pair of Uncle Slam boots from Binky. Since he cannot fit them in the capsule, he hides them under his bed. Then the kids bury the capsule in the woods.

At night, Brain dreams that the boots take him a hundred years into the future. His old self and an old Binky attend a ceremony to open the time capsule. Since old Uncle Slam is also present, Brain gets scared and wakes up.

Brain asks Buster to help him dig up the time capsule and put in the boots, but they cannot find the spot. With the help of Muffy and her metal detector, they find an old bottle cap. Buster recognizes it as belonging to a soda pop factory his great-uncle worked for. The fact that a bottle cap is important to Buster makes Brain feel worse about the boots that were important to Binky. Just then, Binky arrives with a shovel and Brain confesses. Binky is actually happy because the boots were autographed and he wanted them back. However, he insists that Brain finds the capsule, because Binky wants to put something else in instead.

A hundred years later, a descendant of Buster finds the capsule and happily eats the Winkie cake.

Major

 * Brain
 * Binky Barnes
 * Buster Baxter
 * Muffy Crosswire

Minor

 * Arthur Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * Nigel Ratburn

Cameo

 * Mr. Powers
 * Ladonna Compson
 * James MacDonald
 * Molly MacDonald
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Fern Walters
 * Cheikh
 * Uncle Slam (toy)
 * Prunella Deegan

Mentioned

 * Rusty

Trivia

 * Timeline:
 * In Brain's dream and in the last scene, the year jump is from 2018 to 2118, so this means this episode takes place in 2018.
 * Brain says that he doesn't have a metal detector. However, he used one in Arthur's Treasure Hunt, and ended up with a large pile of them.
 * Prunella is seen holding the Mama Bear puppet from "Carl's Concerto."
 * One of the objects in Brain's time capsule is his weather globe from "Shelter from the Storm."

Episode connections

 * Buster's Winkie cake is similar to the Frosted Cakey Cake from "The Play's the Thing."

Cultural references

 * Winkie cakes are a parody of cakes. Buster says that they have a shelf life of 322 years, which is a reference to the belief that Twinkies last forever.
 * Keeping Up with the Kamerahounds is a parody of the reality television show,.