“As luck would have it, Dudley came across a mysterious fortune teller.”

The Great Mezmra is astonished to see this big green rarity of nature. And he’s delighted. He vigorously shakes Dudley’s right hand (which is interesting, since the body puppet’s right hand is usually dysfunctional).

Dudley asks Mezmra if he’s seen another dragon. “I’d give anything to find another dragon,” Dudley says. One can almost see the wheels turning in Mezmra’s mind.

Thinking quickly, Mezmra says he knows where the dragons really are. If he tells Dudley, what does Dudley offer in return?

A dragonberry bush? No. Two dragonberry bushes? Uh-uh. Poor Dudley has nothing else. He had given away his precious teddy bear in the previous episode, and his Big Red Car is long gone. All Dudley has is himself.

Perfect! That’s what Mezmra really wants! A dragon for his circus!

Dudley wants to see his dragon friends, more than anything. He agrees to join the Great Mezmra.

So where are the other dragons?

Here, Rick Mercer’s performance as Mezmra is brilliant, as he flails around for an answer, doing an act around his crystal ball. His answer: On the other side of the moon, of course. How does Dudley get there? Well – the con artist improvises – Dudley will have to walk until he’s close enough to reach up and touch the moon. Dudley has three nights to find his friends. After that, he belongs to Mezmra.

There’s another condition: Don’t tell any of your little friends. Why? Because dragons are shy and his friends might scare them away.

“Good thinking,” the dragon says. And off he goes. But not before thanking the fortune-teller. Such a nice, polite dragon, that Dudley. Such a stupid, gullible dragon, that Dudley.

Crafty devil, that Mezmra.

Photos © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.