MAN: ♫Martha was an average dog♫ ♫She went... and... and...♫ (barking, growls) ♫When she ate some alphabet soup♫ ♫Then what happened was bizarre...♫ On the way to Martha's stomach, the letters lost their way.

They traveled to her brain, and now... ♫She's got a lot to say♫ ♫Now she speaks...♫ How now, brown cow?

♫Martha speaks♫ ♫Yeah, she speaks and speaks and speaks♫ ♫And speaks and speaks...♫ What's a caboose?

When are we eating again?

♫Martha speaks...♫ Hey, Joe, what do you know?

My name's not Joe.

♫She's not always right, but still that Martha speaks...♫ Hi, there.

♫She's got a voice, she's ready to shout♫ ♫Martha will tell you what it's all about♫ ♫Sometimes wrong, but seldom in doubt♫ ♫Martha will tell you what it's all about♫ ♫That dog's unique...♫ Testing, one, two.

♫Hear her speak♫ ♫Martha speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and...♫ ♫Communicates, enumerates, elucidates, exaggerates♫ ♫Indicates and explicates♫ ♫Bloviates and overstates and...♫ (panting) ♫Hyperventilates.♫ ♫Martha-- to reiterate-- Martha speaks.♫ What are you doing?

HELEN: Mom, we're going to the park to play soccer with the guys.

MARTHA: I'll make sure we're back in time for dinner.

Don't you worry!

Uh... hang on.

I need to get a cap to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Won't that be unfair?

I don't have a cap.

I don't think you want to wear a cap.

Try it on.

Huh.

You know, that could work out great if you're the goalie for the opposing team.

This must be why you never see dogs play professional sports.

Well, no wonder it didn't fit right.

This cap belongs to a fish.

Why would I have a fish's cap?

Well, why else does it have a fish on it?

Oh.

That's just an insignia.

I don't know if I've ever tasted an insignia.

Do they swim in lakes or the ocean?

An insignia is not a kind of fish.

An insignia is a picture that tells you about something.

Like the picture of a soccer ball on my team jacket.

That's an insignia that tells people I'm on the soccer team.

So that hat must tell people you have fish on your head, right?

(laughing): No.

This is the insignia of Dad's favorite soccer team, the Sporkville Puffers.

MARTHA: So you're saying if people like a sports team, they wear the insignia for that team on their clothes?

Right.

Okay.

Then who are the Tomatoes?

Tomatoes?

I don't think there's a team called the Tomatoes.

Then why does TD always wear a shirt with a picture of a tomato on it?

You're right.

He does always wear a shirt with a tomato on it.

But why a tomato?

You never asked?

I've meant to, but before I can ask him, TD always distracts me by talking about whether bulldozers are better than dinosaurs, or whether dirt from Mars smells like dirt or a light bulb, or... Oh, no, you're not going to spend another week arguing with TD about Martian smells, are you?

I want to play ball.

I need practice.

Whoa!

Told you I need practice.

(all grunting) Have you ever wondered why TD always wears a shirt with a tomato insignia on it?

TD wears a shirt with a tomato on it?

What?

How could you not notice?

That tomato is almost as big as his head.

Well, now I'm curious.

I'm also sitting on brambles.

There's no word for that except yow!

Hey, Alice, don't sit there.

That's a sticker bush.

I know.

If you know, why did you sit in it?

I have a better question.

Did you ever notice TD's shirt?

The tomato shirt?

Sure.

Am I the only one who never noticed?

OTHERS: Yes.

Why a tomato, though?

I don't know why a tomato.

Was it something he loved and lost?

Maybe it was something he ate.

I have an even better question.

Ooh, what?

Why are we asking each other instead of TD?

Wait!

What's our plan?

Are you going to just ask him?

My mom says the best way to learn anything is to ask questions.

But it's TD.

What if he decides to give us a weird answer?

Or what if it's a delicate topic?

Tomatoes?

It's TD!

Maybe he won't want to talk about it.

Would you wear that shirt all the time if you didn't want to talk about tomatoes?

I don't know.

I'm not TD.

I can't think like TD!

Is there any human who can think like TD?

I don't know any animal who can think like TD, either.

We may never get the answer.

Nobody knows what TD thinks.

TD does.

We could ask him.

(gasp) Oh.

Good plan.

Go.

(yells) (yelling) I'd ask you why you all did that, but I have something more important on my mind.

Going to the park, Dad!

Oh, you surprised me when I was about to knock.

That's all.

Nothing weird going on here.

(whispering): Ask him.

Helen, speak.

TD: Here's what's on my mind: if water is wet and sand is dry, what is butter?

I never thought about it.

Butter is hard when it's cold, but... (whisper) Doh!

He's distracting her already.

(clears her throat) Let me get right to the point, TD.

(whispering): Delicately!

Uh... Are tomatoes very important to you?

I never thought about it, but you know, there was one particular tomato, about a year or two back.

ALL: Yes?

Yes?

I call this "The Tale of the Terrible Tomato Tragedy."

♫Duh-duh-duh!♫ I was helping Dad plant vegetables.

Hand me a tomato plant, please.

How do I know which ones are the tomato plants?

Oh, they're the ones with a tomato symbol on them.

A symbol?

Aren't symbols a thing on a drum kit that when you hit them, Mom says it's time to stop?

The word sounds the same, but the symbol I'm talking about is a picture that tells you about something because it looks like it.

Road signs have symbols on them.

A sign with curves tells you the road will curve.

The symbol on these labels tells you which plant it is.

These indicate they're all tomato plants.

Right.

So please pass me a tomato plant.

TD: I didn't expect planting to be so interesting.

Tomatoes start out small, then they get big.

First they're green, then they turn red.

Nature is weird and not just because of giraffe necks.

After weeks and weeks, Dad said the tomatoes should be ready to eat, and he was right, because something was eating them!

It wasn't gophers because there were no gopher mounds.

There were no squirrel tracks, so I declared the squirrel not guilty.

But I wasn't ready to rule out flying squirrels.

The teeth marks seemed to indicate the work of a shark.

Research proved the bite too small for a shark.

And sharks live in oceans, not our yard.

There was only one tomato left.

I put up symbols to indicate that tomato biters were not welcome.

And I stood guard day and night.

Hmm?

(birds cawing) (snoring) ( crashing) Huh?

You!

It turned out my dad was a sleepwalker.

And a sleep tomato-biter.

So the tomato-biter was your own dad and there you were blaming poor, innocent sharks and flying squirrels.

I guess that last tomato must have become an important symbol to you.

No.

I forgot all about it until you asked.

ALL: Huh?!

There must have been another event in your life that included tomatoes.

You mean like the ketchup contest?

ALL: Yes!

Yes!

Well, I don't need to tell you that ketchup is my favorite food.

It is?

I did not know that.

When you look at me, don't I remind you of ketchup?

You remind us of ketchup?

What do you mean?

If something reminds you of something else, when you see it, you remember the other thing.

Like when you see the ball against the sky, it could make you think of the moon.

The ball reminds you of a full moon.

I know what remind means.

When I see a can of alphabet soup, I think of Martha.

The soup reminds me of Martha.

But you don't remind me of ketchup.

I will after you hear this.

Like most important, exciting stuff, it all started with something I read.

Hmm?

(gasp) Dad!

Dad!

Hurry!

Is something wrong, TD?

It says here the International Society of Tomato Smashers are having a contest.

Grand prize is a trip to Collinsville, Illinois, home of the world's largest ketchup bottle!

(grunting) Dad, I have wanted to stand atop the world's largest ketchup bottle ever since I first heard of it five seconds ago.

Climbing a giant bottle is one of those father-son memories we'd always treasure.

Whoever gets the most uses out of one bottle of ketchup wins.

(growls) I had 56 uses.

I worked as hard on that contest as any Olympic athlete if you don't count the sweating.

The day came when they announced the winners on the Ketchup Channel.

TV ANNOUNCER: Our finalists are TD Kennelly of Wagstaff City, and Mrs. Harriet B. Firemonster of Tuscaloosa, Pennsylvania.

TD had 56 uses for a bottle of ketchup, but Mrs. Firemonster had 57!

She is our grand prize winner!

She beat me by one.

Her 57th was to use the bottle as a water sprayer.

I had used it that way, but I didn't include that in my entry.

So I won second prize.

A t-shirt.

No, a home ketchupping kit, which I haven't been able to use since I tried to make bubble-gum ketchup.

If I don't just ask him, we'll never find out why he wears a shirt with the image of a tomato on it.

Does image mean picture?

An image of something shows what it looks like.

When you see your image in a mirror, you see what you look like.

TD: You know, there was one other tomato thing.

ALL: Yes?

Yes?

During Thanksgiving, we were at my aunt's house.

Me, Dad, Mom, Aunt GG, Uncle J, Cousin CC and their neighbors the Louds.

Mom said, "I like that famous painting that's an image of toe-MAY-toe soup."

It's not toe-MAY-toe.

It's toe-MAH-toe.

Even a child knows it's TOO-mahtoe.

Eh-eh-eh.

TOO-maytoe.

I had this word in the spelling bee.

Tuh-may-toe.

I went to seven years of college and I know it's tuh-mah-toe!

You're all wrong!

It's tom-a-toe!

Toe-MAY-toe.

Toe-MAH-toe.

TOO-mahtoe.

TOO-maytoe.

Tuh-may-toe.

Tuh-MAH-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Is anyone else hungry?

Toe-MAH-toe.

Too-MAY-toe.

TOO-may-toe.

Tuh-MAH-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Tom-a-toe!

Really, does no one else but me want to eat this turkey?

(all arguing) TD: I think they argued for an hour just like that.

They called for a truce, and then my dad said, "Pass the Poe-Tah-Toes, please."

Poe-TAY-toes!

POO-tahtoes.

Eh-eh-eh.

POO-taytoes.

Puh-tay-toe.

Puh-tah-toe!

Pudda-toe!

Pudda-toe!

Pudda-toe!

ALICE: Did it ever end?

Are they still arguing?

They argued till my aunt moved out of the country.

So is that it?

You have no other tomato experiences in your whole life?

No.

Why do you ask?

Because you always wear a shirt with an image of a tomato on it!

You mean this isn't an apple?

No!

That's a tomato.

Toe-mah-toe.

Don't start.

It is a tomato!

That explains why my parents gave me so many shirts with this image on it.

ALL: Why?

Why?

Because it's my initials.

The T in TD stands for "tomato"?

It does now.

Come on, let's go to the park.

I'd like to know what the D stands for, but now I'm afraid to ask.

I told you he wouldn't tell us if we just asked.

Yup, that's just like our friend Tomato.

There's nothing here but white.

(Skits barking) Guess what time it is?

Early o'clock?

Isn't it time to feed the dogs?

(yawns) Not yet.

Oh.

Is it time now?

(sighs) Who needs an alarm clock when you've got a talking dog?

RADIO ANNOUNCER: Tired of dropped calls?

Hidden charges?

How would you like to have a phone that gives you unlimited calls?

MAN ON RADIO: Unlimited, you say?

ANNOUNCER: That's right, Dr. Pablum.

Ugh, those two.

I wonder what they're up to now.

RADIO: Weaselgraft & Pablum's no-hidden-charges, no-re... (radio shuts off) Am I hungry?

I thought so.

You woke me up to feed you.

Don't you remember?

Did I?

Don't I remember waking you up or don't I remember being hungry?

Both.

I don't know.

Stop it.

Stop what?

Asking so many questions.

But what if I can't stop?

Look, I'd love to stay and play 20 bajillion questions, but I have school.

See you later!

What is wrong with me?

Why can't I stop asking questions?

And why are you looking at my food?

(woofs) Something in the soup?

(Skits barking) What is that?

Do we need to get to the bottom of this?

(Pablum humming) Ah, another perfect question mark.

(chuckles) Looks good enough to eat.

CARMEN: Hey, new guy.

No nibbling the noodles.

Oh, sorry.

It's an honest mistake.

But just think about it.

Where would we be if Sally over there sampled her scrumptious S's?

What if George gobbled his G's and I chewed my C's?

Why, before you knew it, we wouldn't have all 26 letters in every can.

And a question mark, don't forget.

Twenty six letters and a question mark.

Hmm.

You know, it's strange.

We've always gotten along with 26 letters.

26 people and 26 letters.

Why did Granny Flo decide to hire another person?

Oh, well, er, uh, maybe she decided to add some punctuation.

Punctuation?

Sure.

With letters you can make words.

But with punctuation you can make whole sentences.

Okay.

But why only question marks?

Why not periods?

Exclamation points?

It's the only thing I could think of.

I mean, she could think of.

The owner.

Granny Flo.

Thought of it.

Not me!

(cell phone rings) Uh, telephone call.

Excuse me.

Hmm?

(beep) Hello?

Pablum, I'm calling to inquire if you've found the... the you-know-what.

Inquire?

Yes, inquire.

To inquire means to ask a question.

Oh.

Right, right.

For instance, if I were inquiring about your health, I might say: "How are you feeling today, Dr.

Pablum?"

Oh, you know, so-so.

I mean, I'm not sick or anything.

Still I may be getting a...

I'm not inquiring about your health, Pablum!

Oh.

So what are you inquiring about, Otis?

(groans)The key!

Did you get the key yet?

Oh.

Of course.

Right.

The key.

Sure, the key.

I don't have it.

(on phone): Pablum!

You've been working there for weeks!

What's taking so long?

Don't worry, Otis.

I'll have it by tonight.

You better.

I'm tired of pretending to work at this miserable string factory.

Ah!

Help me!

Could the soup factory have the answer to what's going on with the soup?

(gasps) Hey, is that Dr. Pablum?

What could he be doing at the soup factory?

Shall we find out?

Hold on, you can't go in there.

Did we see Dr. Pablum just now?

This is a soup factory, not a hospital.

Run along and stop asking questions.

But what if it's important?

Is that a question?

I thought I said no questions.

Hmm... really?

Hey, cut that out and get out of here!

Do you get the feeling Dr. Pablum has something to do with those weird things in the soup?

(barking) Hey, is that TD's dad?

Did he just go inside?

(woofs, whines) Can you tell that I'm saying you should follow me?

(woofs) How do we get in?

(horn blows) Was that the break whistle?

(thud) Ow?

So, Carmen...

I've been here for a couple weeks, but there's one thing I still don't know.

What?

Who's in charge of the can closet?

I am.

You know what?

I love C's.

C is pretty much my favorite letter.

Mine too.

Of course, some people like A's.

Not me.

Too pointy.

No, just give me a nice curvy C. Speaking of curvy, did you ever notice how the top of a question mark is curvy like a C?

Maybe you could give me some pointers.

Question mark?

Sure.

Don't you remember?

I'm the guy that makes the question marks.

Is that why I can't stop asking questions?

Because I ate question marks?

Well, I'd be happy to give you some advice.

But first I have to clean the can closet.

I could do it!

You give me the key to the can closet, and I'll clean it for you.

Genius!

What... key?

The key to the... wait, wha... You mean it's not locked?

Why would we lock it?

They're just empty cans.

Who'd steal them?

Oh, right.

Who'd steal them?

Ridiculous.

(laughs wickedly) The cans are mine.

What does Dr. Pablum want with empty cans?

(woofs) Should we stop him?

What are we waiting for?

Gotcha!

Uh-oh?

(grunts) Did we lose him?

(OG sneezes) (woofs) OG?

Martha!

And... (sneezes) Skits!

(barks) Hey.

Did you see a pair of dogs?

Dogs?

When did we start allowing dogs in the factory?

Ugh!

We don't!

How can I thank you?

You could start by telling me why you're asking so many questions.

What if I told you it was something I ate?

OG: Now let me get this straight.

You can only convey information in questions, right?

Convey?

Doesn't convey mean to move something?

Yes.

Convey means to move something from one place to another.

When I talk, I'm sending what I say from me to you.

It's conveyed from my mouth to your ears.

And I can only convey my thoughts using questions because I ate those question marks?

Seems like it.

But why is Pablum making them?

That's the suspicious part.

I looked at the list of employees and he doesn't even work there.

Could it have something to do with the cans?

Did I hear him asking about the can closet?

I don't know, did you?

Wait, I forgot.

You can only ask questions.

This is confusing.

(barking sympathetically) You're telling me that you heard Dr. Pablum asking about the can closet?

(barks) Mm-hmm.

What would he want with a bunch of empty cans?

Something rotten?

Good guess.

We need to find out.

But first, let's check out this soup.

Uh-huh!

Luckily I just happen to have some new cans.

Got them with my employee discount.

Aha!

Just as we suspected.

Question marks.

The soup is riddled with them.

"Riddled," get it?

(chuckles) Hmm?

(clears throat) Sorry.

So what do we do?

Simple.

We just have to perform a small operation.

(gulps) An operation?

On me?

No.

On the soup.

I'll just clip the curvy parts off of these question marks.

What does that do?

It leaves a dot.

The dot by itself is a different punctuation mark.

It's a period.

You use a period to end a sentence when it's not a question.

So if you eat them...

I can stop asking questions?

We'll find out.

Dig in!

(sneezes) I think it's time for an allergy pill.

That should have been enough time.

Try saying something, Martha.

Is there more soup?

Drat.

Didn't work.

Oh, it worked.

I just want more soup.

(sighs with relief) But that can wait.

Let's go stop that crook!

PABLUM: Who is it?

Otis, nincompoop!

Otis Nincompoop?

I don't know any Otis Nincompoop.

Pablum, it's me!

Open the door!

Otis!

(sighs) This is the can closet, Otis.

Good work.

Now where's the key?

Oh, it was never locked.

Dr. Pablum... are you telling me that it took you two weeks to figure out that you don't need a key to get into this closet?

Um... yes.

What took you so long?!

Ahh!

Never mind.

Get the cans.

Look!

Pablum and Weaselgraft's van.

WEASELGRAFT (inside): Be careful!

Quick!

Hide!

MARTHA: Cans!

But what do they want with a bunch of empty soup cans?

And look-- string.

String?!

Oh, no.

You don't think... What?

Hello, Martha?

Wait.

You're in there, but you're over there.

This invention boggles the mind.

It's a simple tin-can telephone.

Telephone.

(gasps) This must be the no-recharging, unlimited-calls phone those two were advertising on the radio.

The crooks!

What do we do?

I have an idea.

(laughing evilly) The last batch!

(whispering): Now!

(growling) (grunts) (yells) MARTHA (into can telephone): Drop those cans!

Put up your hands.

No funny business, you two.

You're surrounded.

We give up!

Job well done.

Now, who's hungry?

You have to ask?

No.

(laughing) MARTHA: Tin can phones.

I can't believe anyone thought that was a good plan.

(groans) I can't believe we thought this was a good plan.

But at least we made a delightful commercial.

You know, when I inquired about my phone call, this wasn't what I had in mind.

Punctuation!H access.wgbh.org