Preview the sights & sounds in this episode

This is the first episode of the Lizzie McGuire series. We get to see Lizzie introduce to us the main characters of the show. In Part 1, Lizzie introduces to us herself, Miranda, Gordo, Danny, and Kate. She also gets invited to Danny's pool party. In Part 2, Lizzie argues with Dad Sam, Mom Jo and Little Brother Matt at home. She wants to go to the pool party on Saturday. But Mom wants her to go to Grandmother's eightieth birthday party. Because of this, Lizzie feels she is in a crisis. She hears Gordo's sage advice. She sees that Miranda gets invited by Kate to hang out with her after school, and the two of them are going to the pool party without her. She gets mad. In Part 3, Mom Jo and Dad Sam try to handle Lizzie's emotion. Lizzie hears Gordo give more sage advice on life. She also hears that Miranda and Kate had a bad time.

Lizzie McGuire

There is the Teenage Lizzie at junior high school. There is the Cartoon Lizzie. When Teenage Lizzie wants us to hear the thoughts inside her head, she gets 'Toon Lizzie to talk to us. Lizzie grumbles about the gym (or P.E.) class at school. She doesn't like getting the sticky and sweaty look in it, and she doesn't think she has a future in cleats (sports shoes, which we in Hong Kong sometimes call "shoes with nails"). She grumbles about other girls at school. To her, they look like they are posing for fashion advertisements. She hates it, and she doesn't think she qualifies as a future Miss America anyway. Lizzie's mom tells her that she is at a difficult point in her life, and that the "hormones" at her age bring all the physical and psychological changes. Lizzie just thinks her mom talks too much.

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Miranda Sanchez

Miranda Sanchez is Lizzie's best friend. Lizzie tells us about Miranda's secret little dresses for Beanie baby dolls. She also shows us how Miranda deludes herself with silly wish beads. Miranda wishes she would wake up one day with a chest, and then she doesn't have to be a social zero any more. She says she won't go to the pool party without Lizzie. Then she changes her mind, and she plans to go with Kate.

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Gordo

Lizzie has known Gordo since she was one day old. She thinks Gordo is smart, funny, and creative. She believes that he is pretty much right about almost everything. Gordo tells us about the game called Dare or Truth that the students play at the back of the school bus. He thinks the game just aims to humiliate and embarrass. To him, there is enough humiliation and embarrassment to go around in life already. He sees two choices in life. One choice is to be super cool and popular at school. This, in his view, can go on for a few insignificant (or unimportant) years. The other choice is to become a valuable member of society. Then every time you go to the school reunion, you can gloat about it. And you can do this for decades.

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Danny Kessler

Lizzie shows us how Danny Kessler charms all the girls. She thinks Danny looks like popular film actor Brad Pitt. All the girls want to talk to Danny. All of them want kisses from him. Danny thinks these are his duties. Danny's family owns a waterpark. There is a slip slide in it, and that's where he will hold a pool party. He invites Lizzie and Miranda to the party. The invitation brings all the problems that we see in this episode.

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Kate Sanders

Lizzie tells us that Kate used to be her other best friend. She tells us that one day Kate bought a bra, and then stopped talking to her and Miranda. Lizzie shows us how Kate proudly hangs around with her chest in front and a few girls behind. Kate asks Miranda to hang out with her after school. To get ready for the pool party, she wants Miranda's mom to draw mehndi tattoos on her skin. She calls Miranda 'Randa.

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Mom Jo, Dad Sam, Little Brother Matt, Nana

Lizzie has a view about her constant flow of communication with Mom Jo. To her, most of the communication comes from Mom. She thinks Mom spends too much time enjoying her own trips down memory lane talking about her past. She hopes Mom will spend more time caring about what she wants. Lizzie tells Dad Sam about students kissing and swapping spit on the school bus, and also about students playing strip poker (a card game in which the loser takes a piece of clothing off). She tells him these to make him worry. With Little Brother Matt, Lizzie just have fights all the time. We hear about Nana, Jo's mother and Lizzie's grandmother. Nana's eightieth birthday is coming up. Mom Jo wants everyone to go to the birthday party. But Nana plans to go to Las Vegas with her girl friends to play poker.

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** Materials developed and written by Dr. Terence Lo from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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