Sofia the First: The Floating Palace

Sofia the First: The Floating Palace
Season 1, Episode 22
Air date	November 24, 2013
Production Code	122/123
Written by	Craig Gerber
Storyboards by	Heiko Drengenberg Eugene Salandra David Scott Smith Holly Forsyth Kurt Anderson
Directed by	Jamie Mitchell Larry Leichliter Sam Riegel
Songs in this Episode	Merroway Cove The Love We Share
Episode Guide
Previous Episode "The Baker King"	Next Episode "Holiday in Enchancia"

Sofia the First: The Floating Palace is a special that aired on November 24, 2013, on the Disney Channel as a Family Night special event.

Overview

Sofia's family go on a royal vacation to Merroway Cove, where Sofia befriends a mermaid princess named Oona. The Amulet of Avalor transforms Sofia into a mermaid, allowing her to explore Oona's world. Determined to get Oona's enchanted comb, Cedric turns himself into a sea monster and kidnaps Oona, triggering a confrontation between the merpeople and Sofia's family. Sofia goes on an underwater quest to find Oona and restore the friendship between humans and merfolk.

Plot

Somewhere traveling across the sea aboard a boat known as The Floating Palace, Sofia is in the library reading a story when the Royal Family of Enchancia arrives at a tropical island known as Merroway Cove for a vacation. Sofia asks if they'll meet any mermaids, but Roland and Admiral Hornpipe, the ship's arrogant captain, both tell her merpeople are not real. Also accompanying the Royal Family is Cedric, who is out on another scheme to take over the kingdom, only this time he's not after the Amulet of Avalor Sofia wears like he usually is planning on acquiring. This time, he's after the Mermaid Comb of Merroway Cove, a mystical item that gives hydro-kinetic powers so strong, the comb's bearer has the power of the ocean in his or her hands. To get it, he takes a boat to a cave and transforms himself into a sea monster and Wormwood into a squid to conceal their identities so the Enchancia Royal Family don't recognize them or realize they've left the Floating Palace to carry out Cedric's sinister plan that could threaten both Enchancia and Merroway Cove.

Meanwhile, Sofia meets up with Clover, and together they head down to the swimming platform on the stern of the Floating Palace, where they meet a mermaid whose just Sofia's age, only a little bigger. She gets trapped in the net laid out to rope off the swimming area behind the Floating Palace. Sofia pulls her onto the platform and gets her out of the net. Sofia introduces herself to the mermaid, who introduces herself as Oona. The two girls become fast friends. Oona is fascinated by the Floating Palace, which is why she came up to the surface. Sofia's amulet starts to glow, which Oona notices. When Oona asks what the glow means, Sofia, for once, tells the truth about her amulet: It's a mystical item. Oona tells her that the comb she's wearing in her hair is also a mystical item, but she doesn't know what it's powers are because her mother refuses to tell her because she thinks Oona's not old enough to be entrusted with such responsibility yet. When Oona gets back in the water, she discovers her fin was hurt by the net. Sofia takes off her shoes so she can slide her feet into the water and help her. However, the moment Sofia slips her feet into the water, she magically transforms into a mermaid, to the shock of herself, Clover, and Oona, who asks "Sofia, how'd you do that?" Remembering the glow her new friend saw earlier and the Amulet's rule regarding doing a good or bad act, Sofia recites the rule to Oona: "With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse." Sofia then explains what it means: when she does something helpful, her amulet will bless her with a new magical power or ability. Since she helped Oona out when she was in trouble, the Amulet gave her the power to transform into a mermaid and back, with all the abilities that go with it as well. All this makes Sofia squeal "I can swim in the water like a mermaid!" with absolute joy and she happily plunges into the water, to the concern of both Clover and Oona. Sofia sinks down a few fathoms before she finally opens her eyes to see she's underwater and squeals "This is incredible!" with delight and she starts swimming at lightning speed before returning to the surface, to Oona's relief. Sofia decides to use her new powers to escort Oona home.

Meanwhile, Clover meets a seagull named Farley, who tries to make off with a bag of blueberries that Clover had marked as his lunch. A battle erupts between them. The brawling causes the blueberries to spill overboard into the water and gets Clover and Farley stuck in a lifesaver in a way that makes Farley say uneasily due to their predicament, "This is awkward."

Sofia escorts Oona to the bottom of the cove where all the sights make Sofia squeal with delight. Oona shows Sofia a shipwreck she uses as her hideaway where she keeps all her treasures. Suddenly, a seahorse appears and calls out for Oona, prompting Oona to try and hide Sofia. Sofia asks why they're hiding and Oona states "That's Sven. He's my friend, but he gets very suspicious around strangers." Sven heads into Oona's hideaway and finds the two girls. Sven asks Oona "Where have you been?" and when he sees Sofia states "And who is this? I have not seen you in the cove before." Sofia, whose unused to being so easily noticeable both because of her introverted nature and the fact people don't pay attention to her for more than five seconds, can only give a sheepish "no" and giggle. Oona intervenes on her friend's behalf by stating "She's, uh, visiting from another colony. I hurt my fin and she helped me get back." When he hears this, Sven panics and states Oona must see the doctor right away as an older mermaid appears and asks "See the doctor about what?" Upon hearing about Oona's hurt fin, the mermaid proceeds to examine her fin and reveals Sofia had nothing to worry about: It turns out her injury is so minor it can be treated with some moon kelp. While Sven leaves to go get the moon kelp, Oona introduces Sofia to the mermaid, who is her big sister Cora. When Sven gets back with the moon kelp, Cora bandages Oona's fin with it and leaves. Oona moans with embarrassment that her sister treats her like a merbaby. Sofia gives an understanding "Hmm." that tells Oona she completely understands how she feels due to having similar issues with her own family. When Sofia asks where the other merpeople live, Oona and Sven, through a song, give her a tour of the cove.

Unbeknownst to Sofia, she and Oona are both being watched by Sea Monster Cedric and Wormwood the Squid, who recognize Oona's comb as the mystical item they seek. When he sees Sofia, he states "Is that who I think it is?!" and upon recognizing her states "Ooh, it's the Princess all right. I don't know how she turned herself into a mermaid, but she will not stop me from getting that magical Mermaid Comb!" Suddenly, the Floating Palace appears overhead. Cora appears and tells Oona that their mother wants them back at the Coral Castle. Sofia follows the two mersisters to the Coral Castle, heart of the Merroway Cove merpeople colony, where she meets their mother, Queen Emmaline, the ruler of Merroway Cove, and her chief adviser, Plank. When they ask Sofia who she is, Oona tells them Sofia is her new friend. It's revealed that the merpeople in Merroway Cove think humans are dangerous because, many years ago, when a ship entered the cove, the sailors onboard tried to capture one of the colony's inhabitants and most of the merpeople were hurt, which is why they avoid going up to the surface. Sofia tries to tell them they mean no harm, but Queen Emmaline, thinking she's a mermaid, and able to tell that she's a child since she's smaller than Oona, simply tells her that she's too young to know what humans are capable of. Plank urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to create a storm to move the ship out of the cove. Cora is the only one who supports this plan. Sven and Queen Emmaline view the plan as too reckless and irresponsible because it might sink the ship, while Sofia is against it because her family is on that ship and they might drown if the plan is executed, and Oona is against it because she knows the truth about Sofia and what Sofia knows. Sofia insists on a more peaceful plan: She offers to go up and convince them to move the ship on their own. When Queen Emmaline and Plank ask her how she would do that since they still think she's a mermaid, Sofia reveals the truth: She's really a human who has transformed into a mermaid and the ship up there belongs to her family. The entire mercolony is shocked by Sofia's revelation except for Oona, who knew all along. When Plank and Cora start acting negatively toward Sofia, Oona and Sven swim forward and defend her by telling everyone how Sofia helped Oona when she was hurt. Sofia gives the Mermaid Queen her word that the ship will leave immediately, and Emmaline demands that she never return afterward, leaving the merpeople of Merroway Cove in peace and never to be disturbed again. Sofia is hurt by her command because it means she can never see Oona again and will have to find some way to convince her family not to bring the Floating Palace to Merroway Cove in the future, but she agrees with her wishes and says goodbye to Oona. Sven tries to assure Emmaline that Sofia will do what she says, but Plank says "No one asked you, Sven." Sven tries to protest, but Oona states "It doesn't matter what we say, Sven. It's not like anyone listens."

Oona, who could tell how hurt Sofia really was by her mother's words, goes after her and apologizes for how her mother, Cora, and Plank acted. Sofia shrugs it off as nothing and gives Oona a loving hug before she sadly and slowly continues to head back to the ship. Suddenly, trouble erupts for both girls: As Oona is swimming home, she is attacked by Sea Monster Cedric. Sofia is about to climb back on board the ship when she hears Oona calling for help. Sofia dives back into the ocean to help her mermaid friend, but Cedric swats a school of fish in her way, preventing Sofia from intervening. Oona flees into the kelp forest, but gets ambushed by Wormwood the Squid, and gets captured by Cedric. Sofia finally arrives in the kelp forest and calls out for Oona to no avail. Sofia realizes that she's too late and that the sea monster kidnapped Oona. She heads back to the colony and tells Queen Emmaline what happened. Plank states that it's a trick, stating there are no sea monsters in Merroway Cove, prompting Sofia to protest "But I saw it!" Plank ignores her and states that Sofia's family must've taken Oona captive and sent "the girl" back to lie to them, prompting Sofia to protest "That's not true!" Once again, Plank ignores her, and urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to conjure a storm fierce enough to sink the ship, prompting Sofia to protest with a resounding "NO!!" Convinced that Plank is right, Queen Emmaline demands that Sofia convince her family to return her daughter at once or she will do as Plank suggests. Realizing that bringing Oona back is the only way to prove her family's innocence, Sofia asks the Mermaid Queen to give her time to get Oona back herself and Queen Emmaline tells her she has until sundown as an ultimatum. If Oona is not back by then, Emmaline will sink the Floating Palace and drown the Royal Family of Enchancia in retaliation for their suspected kidnapping of her daughter. Sven goes after Sofia and tells her he believes her because he could tell she was being sincere the whole time and urges her to get help from her ship.

On the ship, it turns out Sofia's family hasn't even noticed that she's gone and are only just now noticing, but they all assume that she must've gone back to her room to finish her book. When Sofia gets back on board, she heads immediately to her family and Admiral Hornpipe and tells them about Oona's abduction and Emmaline's threat to sink the Floating Palace. They all scornfully laugh in her face and tell her she must've fallen asleep while reading her book and dreamt it except, unbeknownst to Sofia, Miranda, who can tell that she's being sincere. When Admiral Hornpipe states "Either she dreamt it or she's making it up." Miranda angrily defends her daughter by stating "Sofia doesn't make things up." But Amber unintentionally pushes her little sister past the point of no return by stating she's sure she does by saying "she's always pretending to talk to that bunny of hers." Sofia, hurt by her family's scornful remarks, and finally having had enough of trying to tell others the truth, only to be accused of being a liar by everyone but her animal friends, decides it's now up to her and her animal friends alone to find and rescue Oona. She frees Clover and Farley, who turns out to be a friend of Oona's, from the lifesaver and tells the latter to take to the skies and look for Oona. Farley finds Oona and leads Sofia, Clover, and Sven there. Upon arrival, Sofia finds out that the monster, who she doesn't know is Cedric, knows magic and is after Oona's comb. Sofia tries to save Oona by herself, but Cedric is too powerful for her and she fails, losing the key needed to unlock Oona's cage, and is forced to escape for her own safety before Cedric catches her as well. Meanwhile, Queen Emmaline gets tired of waiting for Oona and Sofia to come back and, without waiting for sundown as her ultimatum stated, conjures a storm with her trident, joined by Plank, while she tells Cora to stay in the palace and wait for them to return, and orders the rest of the merpeople to return home until she comes back.

Sofia, meanwhile, sits on a rock in her mermaid form in the middle of the sea, finally feeling that all hope is lost and gives in to despair: She failed to save Oona and knows the sea monster will kill her mermaid friend the second he gets her comb, and her family will be drowned for a crime they never committed and she feels she can't get help because so far, everyone she told the truth to didn't believe her. She might as well stay in her mermaid form permanently since she can't go back to Enchancia without her family. Sven urges her to go back to the colony and tell Queen Emmaline they found Oona, but Sofia, still sick of such efforts because of what her family and Admiral Hornpipe said, refuses, stating that it's a waste of time because Queen Emmaline and her subjects will never trust a human enough to believe her. As Sofia gives up and starts to cry, ready to accept she'll have to stay a mermaid forever because she can't go home to Enchancia without her family, and find somewhere else to live as she won't be welcomed at Merroway Cove by Emmaline and the merpeople, the Amulet of Avalor starts to glow and her new friend Ariel appears, in her mermaid form, complete with looking over some human knick-knacks she collected, like those in her grotto. Through a song, Ariel tells Sofia she can still save Oona by enlisting Cora to help by showing the mermaid she cares for Oona as much as she does and vanishes, her mission to boost Sofia's spirits completed. Sofia finally finds someone who believes her: Sven tells Cora that Sofia's story is true, testifying that he saw it as well, proving she's telling the truth, and Sofia tells her of her findings. Hearing this, Cora tells Sofia what powers the comb gives its current bearer and she agrees to help save her little sister.

Meanwhile, as the storm rages over the Floating Palace, Plank convinces Queen Emmaline to make it stronger by turning it into a typhoon, but Sven and his family intervene before it gets too fierce and takes Emmaline, and a stubborn and deluded Plank, to where Oona is being held, refusing to return Emmaline her trident until they show her and Plank the truth. Meanwhile, the storm makes the rest of Sofia's family finally realize that Sofia was right all along, except a stubborn Roland, who dismisses the storm as a little squall, despite being somewhat unnerved by the thunder and lightning. Miranda sends Baileywick out to bring Sofia to her, only for him to come back and tell her that Sofia's gone, to the family's horror. Working together, Sofia and Cora save Oona and defeat Cedric with the power of Oona's comb. With Cedric subdued, Sofia, Cora, and Oona meet up with Queen Emmaline and Plank, where Emmaline is relieved to see Oona again, while Plank is totally dumbfounded upon seeing the truth, before Emmaline apologizes to Sofia on behalf of both of them for their behavior after realizing Sofia had been telling them the truth all along, and using the trident after being reminded that the storm was still raging when a clap of thunder startles Emmaline and Sofia, Emmaline stops the storm. While she does this, she gets seen by Sofia's family and Admiral Hornpipe, forcing Roland and the Admiral to accept that Sofia was right all along as well. Sofia reunites with her family, who apologize for what they said to her. Despite not truly forgiving them, Sofia accepts their apologies because she's relieved that her family's all right after what's happened. She then takes them down to meet the merfolk and they all become friends and Sofia and Oona are allowed to remain friends forever, while Amber and Cora discuss things they like, and Emmaline introduces Plank to Roland and Miranda. Meanwhile, a defeated Cedric returns to the Floating Palace and turns himself and Wormwood back to normal, but as Cedric walks back to his tower, Wormwood notices he still sports his tail from his sea monster form.

Home Video Release

• Sofia the First: The Floating Palace DVD

Songs

• Merroway Cove
• The Love We Share

Cast

• Ariel Winter as Sofia
• Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
• Wayne Brady as Clover
• Tim Gunn as Baileywick
• Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
• Zach Callison as Prince James
• Travis Willingham as King Roland II
• Kiernan Shipka as Princess Oona
• Jodi Benson as Ariel and Queen Emmaline
• Jeff Bennett as Farley
• John Ross Bowie as Sven
• Phil Morris as Plank
• Sarah Mitchell as Cora
• Jess Harnell as Cedric
• Jim Cummings as Wormwood

Transcript

Sofia the First: The Floating Palace/Transcript

Trivia

• Viewership: This special was watched by 4.722 million viewers on its premiere, marking as TV's number one evening preschool telecast of 2013, the number one evening telecast on TV among kids and girls 2-5, and also the number one preschool telecast of 2013 among boys 2-5, kids 2-11, and women and adults 18-49. This also marked Disney Channel's number five telecast of all time in girls 2-5.
  • Also, the special increased to 7.6 million viewers in Live + 7 ratings with kids 2-5 and girls 2-5. It also surged by double digits in total viewers and adults and women 18-49. As a result, the series held the top two telecasts in cable TV history with kids 2-5 at the time. This special ranked as the number two telecast in cable TV history among kids and girls 2-5, as well as in total viewers, behind Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
• This is the second time a Disney Princess shows up in a special (Cinderella) and the second special of the show (Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess). There are also similarities especially between these two meetings:
  • Sofia covers her eyes in despair seconds before her amulet glows and a glow is seen where the summoned princess will appear.
  • Both state that the amulet summoned them to help.
  • The princesses (Sofia and the summon) take a stroll (or a swim) in both cases.
  • The meetings include a musical number, and both hint on what Sofia should do to set things right and the one person (Princess Amber and Cora) she should converse with to get started.
  • The strolls end in a doorway to a "room" where an older girl is sulking (Princess Amber and Cora).
  • In the last word of the musical number, the summoned princess and Sofia are in the same position in both cases, with Sofia facing the doorway and the princess right behind her, hands rested on the former's shoulders and as Sofia turns round to thank her, the princess had magically disappeared leaving behind a cloud of shimmering stars.
  • As Sofia meets the girl, they respond negatively at first until Sofia declares her mission to her. Both missions also involve a confrontation with Cedric or at least Wormwood with both girls working together.
• This is the third time Sofia undergoes a magical transformation. In "Cedric's Apprentice", she became a lizard. In "The Amulet and the Anthem", her voice became that of a frog.
• This is the second time Sofia strengthens ties between her family and supernatural creatures. Before, it was the Trolls in the episode "Let the Good Times Troll".
• Ariel is the fourth Disney Princess to assist Sofia.
  • The first was Cinderella in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
  • The second was Jasmine in "Two to Tangu".
  • The third was Belle in "The Amulet and the Anthem".
• Ariel is the first princess to not be seen in her redesign as she was in her mermaid form. The second might be Mulan in Princesses to the Rescue!.
• When Oona asks what kind of animal Clover is, he says "I'm a Blue Ribbon Bunny," a reference to the song and the seventh episode.
• Oona, in many ways, is similar to Sofia: Both are their kingdom's second princess and its Royal family's youngest member, both have mystical items that give them powers which they can't use to their full potential because of lack of training and experience, both received these items from one of their parents, the parent they receive it from is their kingdom's current ruler, both prefer to do things themselves, both despise being mollycoddled, both have older sisters who are their kingdom's first princess and its current ruler's eldest child, both are precocious, and both are rarely listened to or taken seriously because of how young and small they are.
• The timeline of the series seems to be falling into a year since Sofia became a princess. Jade stated in "The Little Witch" that Lucinda arrived a few months after Sofia left. "Princess Butterfly" took place on Halloween, "Great Aunt-Venture" in November (most likely), and now a vacation, followed by winter holidays.
• This is the second episode where Cedric doesn't go after the Amulet, the first episode was "Tea for Too Many".
• Cedric undergoes a magical transformation for the first time in the series and so does Wormwood.
• This is the second time Cedric doesn't go after the Amulet of Avalor.
• This is Cedric's last appearance in the first season.
• Oona is the only one Sofia willingly reveals the truth about her amulet to.
• Oona and Sven are the only ones who know the truth about Sofia's amulet. The other merfolk know about Sofia's powers but not the source.
• This is the second time Sofia's amulet gives her a blessing; the first occurred in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
• This is the second episode whose song ("Merroway Cove") is about a location, the first being "Royal Prep" in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
• This is the second time Sofia gets wet, following Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
• This is the third instance of Sofia reforming a negative character, following Amber in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess and Lucinda in "The Little Witch".
• The book based on this special was published on September 24, 2013, while the DVD was released on April 8, 2014.

Gallery

Promotional

Promotional poster

DVD cover

Concept Art

Sea Monster Cedric concept

Color Script

Screenshots