Mônica Van Winkle

"Mônica Van Winkle" is the title of a story originally published in Mônica #141 (Globo series) in 1998. This story was later adapted into a cartoon episode in 2009.

Plot

The story begins with Monica walking while being amazed and distracted reading a book. Monica inadvertently bumps into Jimmy Five and reveals to him that she was reading the book about Rip Van Winkle, a man who slept for several years under an enchanted cypress tree and when he woke up he was old and everything around him changed losing his relatives and friends. Monica tells Jimmy Five about how sorry she is for the character and how she would fear to be in his shoes if she fell asleep and then woke up grown up, which leads Jimmy Five to provoke Monica by making a joke that she might get old, but she would never grow up and would remain shorty and toothy. Monica tries to throw the book at Jimmy Five, but he escapes laughing.

Monica goes back to reading the book sitting under a tree, but falls asleep. When she wakes up she finds cobwebs around her and finds it weird. Monica decides to return home, but on the way back she notices that the neighborhood is different. She meets Jimmy Five, but he says his name is John Paul (João Paulo in the Portuguese version) and that Jimmy Five was the nickname his father had as a child more than 30 years ago. "John Paul" also calls Monica of lady, saying that she was a short woman with wrinkles on her face. In desperation, Monica runs to look at her reflection in a shop window, but realizes she's still the same.

The boys appear as adults.

Monica then returns thinking this is all Jimmy Five's prank, but she doesn't find him. Suddenly Monica comes across a grown man and recognizes him as Cascão (now being called Silva), who doesn't recognize Monica and says that her friend had disappeared many years ago. Suddenly Jimmy Five, Franklin and Sunny (being called Cebolão, Franjão and Xavecão) also appear as adults who also don't recognize Monica and call her shorty, chubby, and toothy. Monica ends up getting mad by the insults and threatens to hit them with Samson. The grown boys recognize Monica for her anger, calling her a broken old woman and asking what she's done for the past 30 years.

Monica imagines her parents elder and depressed.

Worried about the situation finding it similar to Rip Van Winkle's story, Monica decides to return to the tree where she was sleeping and finds a sign on the side indicating that the tree was a cypress. Monica believes she has slept for over 30 years and cries thinking that no one would care about an old and short woman. She then happily remembers her parents and decides to head back home, only to find a sign in front of the house that reads "For Sale! We've Moved So Sadly!". Monica goes back to crying imagining her parents they left after she disappeared and they were old and depressed. Monica then decides to sit on a rock and stay.

The boys being unmasked

Maggy then appears, but Monica believes she must be Maggy's daughter. Maggy then denies telling Monica that it was herself and thinks it's strange that the neighborhood is suddenly with different rocks and bushes. Monica then believes that Maggy has also been sleeping for 30 years, but Maggy also finds this strange. Monica decides to take Maggy to show her how the street has changed, but she bumps into a painted backdrop. Suspicious Monica decides to go after the adult boys who run around moving their legs in a weird way. Monica jumps up grabbing their legs and reveals that the boys were using stilts to make themselves look bigger.

Monica stretching

Monica takes revenge by punching the boys and goes back home where Mr. Sousa and Ms. Luisa wonder who put that sign in front of their house. Monica happily reunites with her parents, happy to be 6 years old again. Monica then goes to her room deciding to stretch on a barbell in order not to risk being short forever, while Monica's parents look at her confused.

Characters

• Monica
  • Samson
• Jimmy Five
  • John Paul (Jimmy Five's fake son)
• Smudge
• Franklin
• Sunny
• Mr. Sousa
• Ms. Luisa
• Maggy
• Dona Xepa (photo; animation only)

Animated episode

Title card

In August 16, 2009 the story was adapted into a episode, this episode debuted in a new season in which the episodes first premiered on TV through Cartoon Network before the video releases. This episode, like many others in this season, uses flash animation. It can easily be found in official English dub on the official Youtube channel under the name And So Thirty Years Have Passed. This episode has been heavily altered, with many changes from the comics, for example:

• The episode's title was inexplicably changed to "...E Assim se Passaram 30 Anos" (lit.: ...and So 30 Years Passed), for unknown reasons.
  • For unknown reasons the character in the book Monica reads is also never referred to as Rip Van Winkle, instead he is introduced as an unnamed character.
• The background is remarkably quite detailed, having a street and houses visible in the background to differentiate the grassy field where the kids normally play and have their adventures.
• The story begins with Monica reading the book sitting under the tree, but in the comic Monica only sits under the tree after trying to throw the book at Jimmy Five.
• The book is brown and has a yellow circle on the cover, while in the comic the book is in a blue-green tone and has nothing on the cover.
• Jimmy Five meets Monica after tripping over her legs instead of bumping into her.
• When Monica talks about the book story to Jimmy Five she shows the book and Jimmy Five holds the book with Monica. By the way, when Monica tells the story, scenes of the character from the book appear.
• Monica doesn't cry after telling the story of the book to Jimmy Five.
• When Monica tries to throw the book at Jimmy Five the book falls to the ground. In the comic when Monica throws the book it flies over Jimmy Five.
• In the comic when Monica wakes up she breaks the fourth wall talking to the reader, but the fourth wall break doesn't occur in the animated episode.
• The setting of the Lemon Tree Street 30 years later used for the boys' prank is different, having several (fake) towers scattered around the field, while in the comic the boys just positioned a huge canvas with a painted landscape to fool Monica.
• The design of John Paul (Jimmy Five's fake son played by himself) is different with a lighter and buttonless shirt and having two green circles in the middle hair strand.
• When "John Paul" says that Monica looked like a short lady with wrinkles and a tired look, Monica is imagined for a few seconds to be that way.
• When Monica goes to look at her reflection she uses a portable makeup mirror that was with her instead of running to a store window. In addition, a photo of Dona Xepa (Sunny's grandmother) appears in Monica's mirror.
• When Monica tries to prove to the adult Smudge that she was Monica, Monica shows and spins Samson to try to get him to recognize her.

The "adult" boys in the animated episode.

• The clothes used by boys to disguise them as adults are extremely different:
  • Smudge wears green glasses, a blue baseball cap with the face of a pig in it, and a different shirt with a pillow hidden underneath to make him look potbellied. Also the strap of his jumpsuit has been removed.
  • Jimmy Five wears a larger mustache that covers his entire mouth, keeps his iconic green shirt, and has a yellow tie with green polka dots.
  • Sunny appears dressed as a bricklayer wearing an orange helmet, a white sleeveless shirt (with a pillow under the shirt to look more muscular), black boots and a heart tattoo on his arm. His glasses were removed and his blond beard was replaced with a black streaked beard.
  • Franklin dresses like a scientist wearing glasses, a white coat (whose sleeves cover his arms), blue pants, having a mustache (which covers his mouth) and an identity card on his lab coat. Referring to the fact that he is a scientist boy.
• Before returning to the tree, there is an extra scene where Monica have a hallucination and sees the photo of Dona Xepa moving and laughing at her just like the "adult" boys.
• When Monica returns to the tree she is faced with a giant, illuminated billboard in the shape of an arrow above the tree that says "Enchanted Cypress". In the comic Mônica only finds a normal wooden sign written "Cypress" on the side of the tree.
• When Monica begins to believe that she has advanced 30 years into the future, she takes the book back. Smudge also appears for a second to make a joke calling Monica of toothy.
• When Monica returns home she finds the sign claiming her parents moved out hanging on the door of the small wall in front of the house. In the comic, it is a wooden sign placed on the ground in front of the house (since in the comics there are no walls or streets around the houses). Monica's house also has different colors.
• The scene where Monica imagines her parents being elderly and depressed has not been adapted.
• Before reuniting with Maggy, Monica returns to the tree to cry (and the boys are standing by the side of the tree). In the comic Monica sits on a random rock.
• In the comic when Maggy appears she is licking a popsicle. However in the animated episode she is eating nothing.
• The scene where Monica decides to take Maggy to show how the neighborhood has changed and bumps into the painted backdrop has been altered to show one of the toxepwers falling down revealing that it's made of cardboard.
• The way boys are unmasked by revealing stilts is different. Instead of Monica chasing and grabbing their legs causing them to fall, they lose their balance and accidentally fall on each other when trying to escape.
• Franklin escapes of being punched by Monica using a jet pack.
• When Monica attacks the boys there is a fighting cloud.
• The colors of Sousa and Luisa's clothes are different.
• The final scene showing Monica stretching has been altered to show Monica stretching on a bar by the door of her living room, wearing gym clothes and with an anvil tied to her feet. Mr. Sousa doesn't appear in this scene and Ms. Luisa doesn't look confused.
• The episode ends with an extra scene showing Franklin being forgotten hanging from a tree branch and making a joke wishing he won't be forgotten there for 30 years.

Trivia

Mouth error

• There are some errors in the art of the comic, such as:
  • There is a error showing Monica speaking with her mouth closed in one of the scenes.
  • Smudge's fake mustache disappears just as Monica decides to return to the tree.
  • The smudges on Smudge's cheeks disappear after Monica punches the boys.
• In the first publication and in the animated episode Monica mentions being only 6 years old, however in the republications Monica mentions being 7 years old. This is probably because the age of 6 years old was only used in the older comics and currently the official age of the characters is 7 years old.
• The story was also republished under the title "...E Assim se Passaram 30 Anos" after the animated episode was released, however mentions of Rip Van Winkle were retained instead of being referred to as an unnamed character.
• The names Jimmy Five and Sunny use for their adult versions: Cebolão and Xavecão, are the names of their grandfather and father respectively. Interestingly, several years later an adult version of Sunny was introduced in Turma da Mônica Jovem under the name of Xavecão.