Price

The Price
Jumanji Elements
Crystal Ball Message	CLEAR AS ICE, BUT WORTH THE PRICE.
Characters	Alan Parrish Judy Shepherd Peter Shepherd Nora Shepherd Van Pelt Manji Tribe Carl Bentley
Wildlife	Monkeys Rhinoceros Elephant Lion Hippopotamus Pods Minotaur Zebra Spiders Vultures Ostrich Snake Antelope Giraffe Hyena Tiger Wildebeest Warthog Cape Buffalo
Peter's Penalty	Monkey
Episode Credits
Directed by	Bob Hathcock & Jeff Myers
Written by	Kevin Campbell
Air date	September 8, 1996
Next	Bargaining for Time

The Price is the first episode of the Jumanji TV series, and the starting episode of the series.

Plot

After moving into the recently empty Parrish Mansion, Peter and Judy Shepherd find a bizarre board game in their attic called; "Jumanji". Ignoring the advice of their Aunt Nora, the kids decide to play the game. But once they roll the dice, the game's crystal ball starts to transmit a mysterious clue stating: of; "CLEAR AS ICE, BUT WORTH THE PRICE",, and they're subsequently transported into the dangerous jungle world of "Jumanji". Suddenly in the midst a nightfall jungle, they are instantly overcome with fear from their strange surroundings, and when they encounter an intimidating Minotaur which attacks them, a jungle man rescues them in the nick of time, answering their question about where they are with the word of; "Jumanji".

Before the jungle man can interact with the kids, he is sacred off by gunfire from a vicious big game hunter who calls himself, Van Pelt. The hunter takes the children back to his hilltop lodge to interrogate them, hacking down vegetation and scaring off wildlife in their path. Van Pelt calmly but firmly asks Judy and Peter who they are and what they are doing in the jungle speaking to that "flea-bitten cur". The kids begin bickering which slowly agitates Van Pelt into firing at them, but they are saved by the jungle man from before, managing to turn the tables on the hunter by dropping a mounted Rhinoceros trophy on top of him. The jungle man introduces himself to the kids as Alan Parrish, who has been trapped inside of; "Jumanji", for many years. Meanwhile, Van Pelt, yanks the trophy out of his gut, completely unharmed. Alan then leads Judy and Peter back to his cave for shelter, showing off his impressive knowledge and expertise along the way, revealing that he only played "Jumanji", once and has spent 23 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 4 days surviving on his own since no other players survived as long as him. When Judy asks about his clue, Alan reveals he never knew about it, since he never read the rules or saw the crystal ball message which is why he's still trapped: therefore he's unable to solve his clue and free himself. He decides to help Judy and Peter solve their clue hoping it'll free him too. In the answer to their clue, he starts searching his cave for a Crystal Monkey Puzzle he found in the back a long time ago, which may be answer to their clue. Since Alan couldn't crawl through the hole at his age, Peter gladly crawls through the tunnel and starts to try and solve the puzzle, which triggers the appearance of a giant Spider and several small sized ones which attack the trio. Frustrated, Peter smashes the puzzle and puts the broken pieces together which creates the complete monkey face allows the three to return to the real world.

Back in the Parrish Mansion, Alan is so delighted to be back in Brantford for the first time in 23 years, but because Peter cheated in solving the puzzle, "Jumanji", punishes him by transforming him into a Monkey. Alan becomes sad at the short lived victory, because he knows that "Jumanji" hates cheaters. Realising their turn is not over yet, they start to head back to the attic, but discover that "Jumanji" has decided to come to invite itself to Brantford, evidently when vegetation starts to overrun the Mansion and stampeding animal inhabitants begin rampaging through town. Officer Carl Bentley is overwhelmed by the bizarre rings on and loses his patrol car to a familiar Monkey trio.

When entering the attic, now a gateway to "Jumanji", they are captured again by Van Pelt who demands they hand over the crystal, until Alan lies that they handed it over to the deadly Manji tribe. Van Pelt holds the trio captive in a camp, anticipating the stalking Manjis in the bushes and the return of the Minotaur. With the help of Tribal Bob and the Manjis, they throw the hunter into a Pod's jaws are able to return the puzzle to the Manjis. Tribal Bob, in return for Peter saving his life and Peter's honesty, completes most of the puzzle then hands it to Peter to finish. With the puzzle and their clue solved, Judy and Peter (who is returned to normal) return home, but Alan is sucked back into the game as he still hasn't completed his turn.

Judy and Peter then decide to continue playing "Jumanji", and try to help Alan find his lost clue and free him too as he helped them escape. After Peter brings a large handful of Crunchy Munchies for Alan, the two prepare to return to the game with Judy rolling the dice.

References to film

• Some scenes pay homage to the TriStar film. Such as the kids moving into the abandoned Parrish Mansion and meeting Alan for the first time after his 20+ years inside the game.
• The appearance of the giant Spider before escaping "Jumanji", into the Parrish Mansion's attic mirrors the attic Spider attack scene from the 1995 film.
• Peter transforming into a monkey while trying to cheat is taken straight from the live-action film.
• The Stampede wrecking the house and vines appearing that forms the house into a jungle are taken straight from the live-action film. An Elephant even clambers onto of a car, totally crushing it flat.
• Officer Carl Bentley's antics from the film were repeated in the episode such as being blown away when trying to enter the Parrish Mansions and Monkeys stealing his squad car out from under him.

Continuity

• Footage of the episode was used in "Young Alan", during the backwards travel through the timelines. More scenes were reused in the series finale; "Good Bye, Jumanji". Specifically the trio heading back to Alan's treehouse and Alan teaching the kids about Pod behaviour during night and day.

Legacy

• The Episode was included on the 2018 HMV "Jumanji", Steelbook, which was deliberately released to coincide with the 2017 film. Along with the succeeding episode, the Steelbook included the 1995 Jumanji film, an animated edition of the original "Jumanji", storybook read by author Chris Van Allsburg and a sneak peek at Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Gallery

The night-time Pods.

Bridge Pods.

Alan takes Judy and Peter to his cave.

A Vulture attacks.

The Giant Spider.

Small Spiders.

Alan, back in the Parrish Mansion after 23 years.

Peter turns into a Monkey.

Jumanji comes to Brantford.

Officer Bentley comes calling.

The Minotaur.

Van Pelt fires his gun.

Van Pelt shoots the Minotaur.

The Minotaur retreats.

A Pod traps Van Pelt.

The Manjis arrive.

Manjis surround the trio.