"Princess Butterfly" is the nineteenth episode of Sofia the First. It is also the first Halloween-themed episode in the series. It premiered on October 11, 2013.
Overview[]
The students at Royal Prep are all looking forward to the All Hallows Eve costume ball, especially Princess Amber. However, this year, they all have to make their costumes themselves, and Amber doesn't know how. When she sees Sofia's beautiful swan costume, she gets jealous, knowing that Sofia will likely win. She decides to cheat and asks Cedric to use a magic spell to make her a costume. The spell gives Amber a wonderful butterfly costume, and she wins the contest. But the costume won't come off, and it turns out that it's real! Cedric says the only way to turn Amber back is with Sofia's amulet. Now Amber must make a hard decision: confess what she did or take her sister's amulet.
Plot[]
The princes and princesses at Royal Prep are excited for the All Hallows Eve Costume Ball, especially Princess Amber, who is determined to win the costume contest for the third year in a row. However, the fairies arrive and change the rules: the princes and princesses must make their own costumes. Princess Sofia is excited to get started, but the other princesses, especially Amber, are horrified because Amber has never sewn anything in her life.
At home, Amber struggles to make her costume and can't even get the thread through the needle. Sofia comes to offer help and demonstrates how to thread the needle. Amber declines, tries to sew her costume, and accidentally pricks her finger. Just as Amber is about to give up, she overhears Queen Miranda complimenting Sofia on her costume. Amber goes to Sofia's bedroom and sees the beautiful silver swan costume Sofia has made. Her brother, James, runs in with his dragon-head costume and explains that Prince Zandar is the back part of it. Knowing that Sofia will probably win the contest, Amber goes to Cedric for a spell to create a majestic costume. At first, Cedric disapproves of using magic to win, but he gives her a spell anyway, which is part of his plan to get Sofia's amulet and take over the kingdom.
At the costume ball, Sofia's beautiful swan costume draws a lot of attention, and everyone is sure she will win the contest. Amber uses her spell to transform her gown into a realistic butterfly costume, which wins her the contest.
However, there's a big problem: when she gets home, she can't take the costume off—it turns out Amber has become an actual human butterfly! She goes to Cedric for help, and he says he can create a potion to reverse the spell, but he needs Sofia's amulet to complete it. Amber doesn't want to take the amulet and considers going to the fairies for help instead, but Cedric points out that if she does, then she'll have to confess that she cheated by using magic. Not wanting to admit what she did and give up her new trophy, Amber decides she has to get Sofia's amulet.
The next day, Amber decides to trick Sofia into taking off her amulet. She suggests they "dress up for school" and wears her butterfly costume, offering Sofia her pixie costume from last year. Amber tells Sofia she would have to take off her amulet to put the costume on, but as she tries to remove it, James reminds them it's time to leave for school. This means Sofia doesn't have time to change clothes. At school, everyone wonders why Amber is wearing her "costume," and she claims she loves All Hallows Eve so much that she's decided to celebrate longer.
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 because of how she seems obsessed with wanting the Amulet of Avalor. Outside, Amber throws her drink at Sofia's gown 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 and that "the spell went wrong", so she needs the amulet to undo the spell. Sofia initially refuses because of the promise she made to never take it off, but upon seeing the situation her sister is in, decides to give Amber her amulet to get back to normal, but Amber, all of a sudden, refuses to take the amulet because she now knows it was wrong to cheat and it's not worth Sofia to giving up something she loves because Amber made a mistake. However, Wormwood follows and does take the Amulet. Amber and Sofia chase him around the school. Amber uses her wings to fly and Sofia gets on Minimus with the whole school seeing this.
When the sisters catch Sofia's amulet, Sofia decides it would be good to take it to Cedric, but Amber has a better idea. Amber confesses 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 since she would do anything for her. The fairies express disappointment in Amber for cheating and tells her that she has to return the trophy, but are proud of Amber for realizing her mistake and learning from it. The fairies undo the spell, returning Amber's appearance back to her usual gown she wears. Sofia and Amber agree to work on the costumes together and walk out laughing about it.
Home Video Release[]
Cast[]
- Ariel Winter as Princess Sofia
- Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
- Zach Callison as Prince James
- Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
- Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
- Jim Cummings as Wormwood
- Sabrina Carpenter as Princess Vivian
- Coco Grayson as Princess Hildegard
- Karan Brar as Prince Zandar
- Michaela Zee as Princess Jun
- Harley Graham as Princess Clio
- Eric Stonestreet as Minimus
- Barbara Dirickson as Flora
- Russi Taylor as Fauna
- Brian Lee as Prince Jin
Song[]
Transcript[]
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 1.782 million viewers on its premiere.[1]
- This episode aired as part of Disney Jr.'s "Boo For You Fridays", and the other episodes that aired on Fridays every October until 2016 aired as part of the same event.
- This episode is the second time Sofia does any sewing. The first time was in Once Upon a Princess.
- Amber undergoes a magical transformation for the first time in the series.
- This marks the third time Cedric comes close to obtaining the amulet. The first is "The Amulet of Avalor", the second being "The Amulet and the Anthem".
- This is the second time Sofia takes off the Amulet. The first was in "The Amulet of Avalor".
- This is the second time Amber meets and talks to Cedric face-to-face, the first being "Tea for Too Many".
- 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 Lepidoptera meaning an order of insects comprising the butterflies and moths, and Leonidas which translates into Lion-like, and is the name of the Spartan King.
- The song, "Who's That?" is, so far, the only song masked by the chatter of the characters, serving as background music.
- This is the first episode where the plot is more focused on Amber than on Sofia.
- It is revealed that sewing is apparently not taught at Royal Prep.
- This is the second time Amber becomes jealous of Sofia, the first being Once Upon a Princess.
- A minor running gag occurs in the episode involving James, Zandar, and Jin with their costumes. James and Zandar, both having made separate parts of their dragon costume, are unable to find each other until the end of the ball, whilst Jin twice ends up falling flat on his back due to his costume being actual armor and he is barely in double digits.
- This is the second time there is a brief hostility between Sofia and Wormwood, following Once Upon a Princess.
- Despite Wormwood stealing the amulet, he strangely does not get cursed for stealing it.
- Moral: Never resort to cheating or stealing because it never pays off.
References[]
- ↑ Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD ratings (October 7-13, 2013). Son of the Bronx (October 18, 2013). Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2024.