Learn About Competition in Business with Tuttle Twins
In a desperate attempt to rescue Grandma Gabby from suspicious government agents, the twins—and Karinne—crash land in a totalitarian future society, and face an unlikely foe.
In this epic final installment of the first season of Tuttle Twins, entitled “The Fight for the Future,” the gang will learn about the principles of persuasion and force as they fight for the fate of the world.
Episode 12: The Fight for the Future Plot Summary
At the start of the latest installment of Tuttle Twins, a brazen Copernicus nominates Ethan as the newest Kids’ Club President, and Karinne is not pleased.
Thinking her sudden loss of control is somehow due to the meddling of the twins’ Grandma Gabby, Karinne sneaks into the Tuttle home and looks in Gabby’s computer. To her delight, she discovers incriminating evidence. Moments later, two suits from the Freedom and Regulation Team—also known as F.A.R.T.—show up at the door and place Grandma Gabby under arrest, alleging that they’ve received evidence she’s hiding dangerous technology. The mysterious agents had a warrant, and there was no stopping them from fulfilling their mission: to take away Gabby, Derek, and their beloved grandmother’s gadgets. Shortly after, the bomb squad arrives to seize her powerful, time-traveling wheelchair.
Desperate to save Grandma Gabby, Ethan and Emily sneak into the house and discover Karinne in the wheelchair. With a devious grin, Karinne lets the twins know that she is responsible for the ambush. “Do you know how many rules she’s broken?” Karinne asks. The twins sit in disbelief as she tells them that Gabby’s been hiding the fact that she’d been to the future.
With the bomb squad at work cutting down the door, and with time running out, the twins try to hide the wheelchair or, at least, get Karinne off of it. With a press of a button, the three blast off into a portal, leaving the federal agents stumped. The twins take turns freaking out as the trio barrels through time. “It’s okay to civilly disobey,” Emily frantically recalls. She and Ethan tell Karinne all they’ve learned from their grandma, and earnestly ask her to liken it to her experience with her own grandma, but the vengeful redhead cannot relate. Instead, Karinne offers to make it all go away if they reinstate her as Kids’ Club President, and if they stop going on adventures with Grandma Gabby.
“Why do you care about our adventures with our grandma?” the twins ask Karinne. She responds in a predictable huff.
“Because I’m losing control!” Furious, Karinne shows the twins what she’d discovered on Gabby’s computer: a picture, dated in the year 3000, of their grandmother and a futuristic robot. The twins are incredulous; Gabby had always told them that going to the future was strictly forbidden!
Back in the present day, Grandma Gabby sits in an interrogation room, as the feds try in vain to gain information. To their dismay, none of their classic tactics are working against the hardened Cuba expat.
Somewhere along the space-time continuum, Ethan, Emily, and Karinne crash-land in the United Empire in the year 3000. What they see intrigues them instantly. In this idyllic but bleak utopia, government-mandated “Robo-Helpers” assist everyone in their daily pursuits, and ensure that no crime or malfeasance occurrs in their seemingly perfect streets. If anyone dares to act out or disobey, the Robo-Helpers just might make them disappear. Oops!
As the group takes in their surroundings, a citizen with the name and the spitting image of Karinne reports them for loitering, and they race away from the pursuing Robo-Helpers.
Meanwhile, in the present day, Derek is terrorizing the frustrated feds by eating everything in sight. Grandma Gabby still hasn’t cracked.
In the year 3000, the gang meets Steve, a Robo-Helper tour guide who explains the ins and outs of the rebellion against totalitarianism. Oh, and he speaks in emojis. Steve explains that technology hasn’t progressed far enough for things like self-farming households and teleportation, because the government “got into the business of business” (Poop Emoji, right?). Steve takes the crew to the town’s DMV, where every patron is passed out from boredom. Steve explains that if the DMV were a private business, like a restaurant, the complaints it received about the institution’s long wait times would require it to grow and improve and become better, or lose its business. To make matters worse, inflation has run rampant in this future society; one woman shows the group her $3 billion parking ticket. One patron is notified of his adjusted five-year wait time over the DMV intercom.
Emily recalls that it was a healthy dose of competition that made their corn dog business better. Karinne, on the other hand, loves the DMV for its orderly nature. Overall, however, the group learns that every customer suffers in this future world because every company is run by the government. “When government businesses don’t compete, they rarely improve and just repeat,” Steve teaches. The lesson: Governments need to let private businesses compete with their agencies, and leave it up to the individual citizen which government services they’ll use. The postal service, for example, had historically been improved in this way.
Karinne is, unsurprisingly, thrilled with the idea of everything in the future being government-controlled. To her, control always works. Karinne runs to escape, and the twins follow—but the Robo-Helpers are all too quick. The eerie robots arrest Steve and the kids and take them to the court of the United Empire’s masked dictator. “Welcome to your judgment day,” the figure announces, flipping a switch and turning Steve back into an evil Robo-Helper. The dictator reveals that they are a time traveler as well, which is how the mysterious individual had made their way to this land and conquered it. The dictator demands to know where the time machine is. The twins protest, of course, and demand to know the dictator’s identity.
When the dictator removes their mask, the twins and Karinne are flabbergasted. In the prime of her mid-twenties, the dictator leaning back on her throne is none other than their Grandma Gabby. A million questions swirl in the twins’ minds, with one ruling the rest: How did Gabby become a totalitarian leader?
The young Gabby explains that her childhood in Cuba gave her extensive experience with incompetent communist leadership. With dreams of a utopia run with intelligence, Gabby wanted to apply her knowledge and technology to build the world of which she dreamed. Exasperated with explaining her story, Gabby orders that the kids be taken to the Brainwasher 3000. Just as the group is about to have their minds wiped, the Robo-Helpers are blasted away and Grandma Gabby—in all her gray-haired, tracksuit-wearing glory—appears in a time machine with Nikola Tesla. She speaks a few words and awakens the helpful side of Steve. “Wake up, Gabby,” the twins’ grandmother admonishes her younger counterpart. “Force doesn’t work.”
As Derek does his part and eats all the sinister Robo-Helpers, Dictator Gabby argues with Grandma Gabby. “People don’t want freedom, they want safety!” she cries.
Grandma Gabby replies with surety. “But you can’t save them, not this way! Not with force and lack of choices!”
Derek is left to fight Evil Communist Derek as their debate persists. “Freedom isn’t perfect, but persuasion is greater than force,” Grandma Gabby teaches. She apologizes to the twins for not telling them about her totalitarian era; she is ashamed of her mistakes in running her future nation. “Every leader thinks they’ll be able to do it right if they have more power, more technology, or more smarts, but even the people with the best intentions can lead a country into the worst situations.”
When Young Gabby orders that the group once again be detained and brainwashed, Grandma Gabby intercedes, “They’re your grandkids too!”
“When people have the freedom to make their own choices, they solve their own problems!” Ethan interjects. Previously unbeknownst to the twins, this very moment turns out to be the one that saves Young Gabby, and she decides to return to the past and grow into the freedom-loving grandma the twins know and love.
“I’m so sorry,” Gabby says. “I didn’t know the future of a free society was so bright until I saw you.”
Grandma Gabby whisks the crew away to a future in an alternate dimension, to a society that values freedom over force. The world is beautiful and bright; the local DMV has no wait times, serves delicious cookies, and is run by helpful robots. “When people are given actual choices, everything is better,” Gabby reminds the kids. “Imagine what could happen if you got to choose the services you used, like schools!” She shows them several glorious aspects of life in this society built on healthy competition:
Schools don’t have standardized curriculums but instead teach kids to follow their passions.
Potholes are fixed in a day, or citizens get their money back.
Police arrive at emergencies in five minutes or less, don’t infringe on rights, and don’t exercise a single no-knock warrant.
The audience is invited to live everything they’ve learned during this season of Tuttle Twins and help create this beautiful future. “The fate of the future is always changing based on our choices now,” Gabby concludes.
Karinne struggles to admit that she really did learn something valuable today. “[Dictator Gabby] wanted to be a good leader but wasn’t very good at persuading people,” Karinne admits—but with a twist. “...absolute power can corrupt…the weak-willed!” The twins’ totalitarian friend promises Ethan that she’ll come for his position as president, that she’ll call off the F.A.R.T.s—but will keep an eye on the Tuttle gang.
Back in the present day, the F.A.R.T. agents slink down the Tuttles’ driveway, defeated. “Still not the biggest waste of taxpayer dollars this week,” they joke. The episode ends as the two notice something on the ground, and take it away for testing: a bit of knowledge juice leaked from Grandma Gabby’s wheelchair.
What Did We Learn in “The Fight for the Future”?
When the future of the world is threatened by a masked dictator with a taste for totalitarian rule, the twins and Karinne learn about the importance of competition in business.
In a desperate effort to rescue Grandma Gabby from a strange new government agency, and also to unravel the mystery of her travels to the future, the crew travels to the year 3000 and discovers a world where the government runs unchecked. Every business is run by the regime, and they’ve all become sluggish and incompetent as a result.
Eventually, the kids are reunited with Grandma Gabby, who shows them an alternate future in which businesses are allowed to compete with government agencies. The group learns that when citizens are given a choice as to where they go for their services, everything is better. Without competition, there is no incentive to improve.
After the twins learn that the mysterious dictator at this regime’s head was in fact a much younger version of their Grandma Gabby, they discover an essential truth: “The fate of the future is always changing based on our choices now.” If each viewer makes a sincere effort to live the lessons they’ve learned in this last season of Tuttle Twins, this future of freedom, prosperity, and improvement can be theirs.
Be Like Ethan & Emily
In a world where convincing apologists glamorize just about every ideology, citizens of all ages need to be able to distinguish between what’s good and what’s harmful. In this episode of Tuttle Twins, the kids discover the dangers of totalitarianism, and how to govern effectively (hint: it’s not by force!).
Parents, teach your kids the dangers of a government that controls every part of life and discuss what happens when competition arises and threatens a business’ success.
How can you teach your kids the importance of competition in business?
Share with them current events that involve competition and improvement in the free market and with government agencies.
Teach them about historical and present-day governments. Help them to notice the difference between the success of free countries and that of totalitarian regimes.
Define the term “utopia,” and brainstorm different ways that society could improve that don’t involve the elimination of competition or heavy-handed governance.
The knowledge shared in each episode of Tuttle Twins can jumpstart important conversations about freedom and economics. Use the lessons of Tuttle Twins to facilitate these key teaching moments with your children.
Support Tuttle Twins
Tuttle Twins offers a unique mix of powerful lessons and thrilling adventures. Ethan and Emily’s antics are sure to entertain and educate fans of all ages.
Are you yearning for more high-quality entertainment that amplifies light? Ready for more Tuttle Twins? Discover the next episode of the series and the premiere of Season 2, entitled “Needs, Rights and Flamingo Fights.” When Ethan and Emily’s field trip starts to go awry, they find themselves confused about the difference between needs and rights. Travel through time with the twins to learn about natural rights from John Locke, and watch as the twins fight through an island filled with fearsome flamingos.
The Tuttle Twins series is full of fun and knowledge suited for all ages. Watch Tuttle Twins for free in the Angel Studios app, or at Angel.com/TuttleTwins.
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