Like the Great Prince, Like the Young Prince

"Like the Great Prince, Like the Young Prince" is the thirty-first episode of the American animated television series Bambi. It first aired on March 11, 2000, on ABC as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning.

Summary
The Great Prince gets injured trying to protect the forest, so he lets Bambi and Friend Owl team up to take over his duties until his injuries heal. It goes all well and good at first, until Bambi and Friend Owl become more recognized than The Great Prince, making him worry that he will never be able to protect the forest again. In addition, Thumper and Flower feel as if he doesn't have enough time for them anymore, so Bambi and Friend Owl decide to invite them along, only to cause more problems for them. Can Bambi and Friend Owl do their duties right with their two small friends around or will The Great Prince step up to get everyone to safety, especially Bambi, Friend Owl, and himself?

Plot
One day in the meadows, The Great Prince does his usual duties of searching his surroundings to see if there's any danger in the forest. Suddenly, he hears a gunshot, along with a pack of bird flying in the opposite direction that the stag is facing. He rushes outside to warn the herd, and they immediately rush to find a safe place, including Bambi. However, while trying to get to a safe spot, the stag accidentally stumbles and trips on himself, spraining his legs in the process. Bambi, afraid that his father will get shot trying to protect his home, helps him get to a spot where he's safe from Man and where he can rest until his injuries heal.

Later, The Great Prince realizes that the forest will most likely never be safe from Man as long as The Great Prince can't watch over their home. This concerns Bambi, so he asks him on what he could do to help. Surprisingly, he gives him the offer to take over his duties until he can go on duty, again, and he almost accepts the offer, but realizes that he might potentially not do the job properly, so his father suggests getting Friend Owl to help the fawn watch over the forest. The fawn then accepts the offer, and goes off to Friend Owl to ask him for help on being the watcher over the forest. Although reluctant to do so, at first, as he believes he's more of a mentor than a guardian, he eventually agrees to help Bambi watch over the forest, while the stag recovers, and decides to start their new, temporary duties tomorrow.

In the meadow the next morning, Friend Owl teaches Bambi the ropes of being protectors of the forest. He doesn't really follow the protector's duties at first, but he eventually gets the hang of it with the owl's help. When it comes time for the real deal, Bambi worries that it might go wrong, but the owl reassures him that even though he's a bit young to be protector of the forest, he can do it. As they search the surroundings, they begin to sense danger, as another gunshot is heard, and signal the herd in the meadow to flee, and, although frightened at first, they eventually flee to a safe place. Once the coast is clear, Bambi and Friend Owl signal the herd that it's safe to return, and the owl asks him if he's really too scared to be protector, but Bambi declines, stating that if he can stay calm, yet brave, he can handle it.

Some time passes, and the protecting duo becomes more recognized than the Great Prince himself, who begins to doubt his duty as watcher over the forest and fear about eventually becoming retired from his job. Meanwhile, Thumper and Flower both began to miss Bambi, as they feel like he barely has time to play around with them anymore. Although reluctant at first, Bambi eventually decides to let them tag along in his and Friend Owl's duty as long as they don't mess around. When Bambi tries to watch for any signs of Man, he becomes distracted by Thumper's thumping, and almost forgets to see the birds flying overhead, but thankfully alerts the herd in time for them to run for safety.

After getting to a safe place, Bambi chastises Thumper for distracting him from properly watching for any signs of danger, but the rabbit simply tells him that he just couldn't control the thumping, and promises to control his thumping the next time they go on duty. The next day, however, Thumper's thumping distracts Friend Owl from properly being able to see any potential signs, causing him to chastise the rabbit for disrupting his search with his thumping, but before Thumper could respond, they hear squawks from above, and Bambi sees the birds flying above them, so he signals the animals to get to safety. Bambi and Friend Owl start to become worried, as they realize that bringing along the deer's two best pals might not be a good idea, so they decide to just let Thumper and Flower roam around in the meadow, so that they won't distract their duties.

Despite this, however, Thumper still distracts the duo the next day, which causes them to nearly miss the birds and the gunshot. However, they barely notice them just in time, so they quickly warn the herd and signal them to get to safety. While trying to run away, Bambi accidentally trips on something, injuring his leg in the process. Thumper and Flower lead their other friends to safety, while Friend Owl is left to look over Bambi.

As the Great Prince hears their cries for help, he rushes over to them, despite his injuries not being fully healed, yet. Though he has difficulty at first, he barely manages to get himself, Bambi and Friend Owl to a safe place, where they thank him for risking his life to save theirs. The Great Prince then explains that his injuries should be completely healed soon, and tells Bambi to rest up on his injuries in the meantime. Some time passes, and The Great Prince is back to his forest-protecting duties, now that his injuries have completely been healed.

When the Great Prince is done watching over the forest, he asks Friend Owl about his time watching over the forest in the absence of Bambi and the Great Prince, to which the owl responds by saying that it went swell. The stag then asks Bambi how it felt like to be protector of the forest, to which he responds that although it was difficult, it was fun, but he decides to be more careful on what he does next time, even if he's just having fun.

Production
Coming soon!

US

 * Bambi: Season 1, Volume 2 (DVD)

Reception
Coming soon!