The Origin of Donnie Part 1 is the 1st episode of season 4 of The Wild Thornberrys. It is the 78th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The Thornberrys are preparing for Donnie's "birthday" party in Borneo when one crisis after another happens. Grandma Sophie decides to visit the same day Nigel and Marianne must capture a wild orangutan on film for the foundation.
Plot[]
An old video of Nigel talking about orangutans in Borneo suddenly results in a "boy of the jungle" swinging into view, which both Nigel and Marianne react to in surprise. The jungle boy turns out to be Donnie, who is watching the video in the present day. He is more excited than usual, which leads Eliza to theorize that Donnie is remembering the day the Thornberrys found him.
The family has come to Borneo once again, not only to film orangutans, but to celebrate Donnie's "birthday" (or the anniversary they found him) and impending adoption. Nigel reveals to Marianne that her mother Sophie is coming to celebrate with them, much to her chagrin. She tells Debbie and Eliza to get the comvee cleaned up for their grandmother's arrival while she and Nigel head over to the foster parent agency. Eliza is unhappy since she wanted to look for orangutans.
At the agency, Marianne and Nigel speak with Mr. Mayasandra, the man in charge of the agency, who explains that there is still no trace of Donnie's biological parents to be found. He isn't sure they're still alive or what became of them, but he feels that since Donnie is quite happy with the Thornberrys, he does not see any issues with him staying with them.
After returning to the comvee, Nigel and Marianne get ready to film orangutans. Marianne instructs Eliza to keep cleaning and for Debbie to put Donnie into a proper outfit. After they leave, however, Debbie has a hard time wrangling Donnie, so Eliza convinces Debbie to let her take Donnie. She, Donnie, and Darwin go off into the rainforest.
Nigel and Marianne visit an orangutan rehabilitation center, where people care for orphaned young orangutans and teach them how to survive in the rainforest. Marianne wants to look for an adult orangutan, so the worker they speak to directs them towards the area where they had released an adult one a few days before. To their fear, the worker reveals that there had been poachers spotted earlier that day, and they could go after that orangutan.
In the rainforest, Eliza and Darwin watch Donnie. Donnie leads them to a durian fruit tree, which Darwin finds to smell awful, but loves the taste after Donnie chucks one at him. The durians give Eliza the idea to try and jog Donnie's memory of being raised by orangutans by imitating one. Donnie appears to get the idea, but ends up leading them to an angered Sumatran rhino. They escape him by climbing a tree to safety, but soon encounter a troop of Proboscis monkeys. Donnie's yelling scare them into jumping into the river, but one of them, Beru, assures Eliza that his kind can swim. So she, Darwin, and Donnie join the monkeys for a swim.
Debbie is still cleaning the comvee and setting up for Donnie's party when Sophie arrives. Initially unaware of each other's presence, Sophie dumping a bucket of water on Debbie immediately notifies them. Sophie helps out while Debbie radioes her parents.
Nigel and Marianne get a view of the orangutan and plan to hike down the cliff they've spotted him from. Nigel accidentally drops the radio while Marianne's climbing gear comes loose, resulting in her spraining her wrist. Marianne insists they keep going despite her injury.
Eliza tells Beru about her desire to see an orangutan, but many incidents involving Donnie get in her way. First, a stick Donnie floats down the water is mistaken for a snake. Then his screaming over a porcupine distracts her. Finally, he provokes an alligator into chasing him, and Eliza's quick thinking of using a stick is able to save her, Darwin, and the monkeys. Furious, Eliza angrily yells at Donnie, telling him that she's never going to take him anywhere with her again. After apologizing to Beru and his family, Eliza and Darwin say goodbye and plan to return to the comvee with Donnie...only Donnie has suddenly disappeared.
Eliza and Darwin quickly go searching for Donnie. Eliza begins to grow worried about Donnie's safety and feels ashamed that she furiously yelled at him. Darwin comforts her as Eliza wonders if something terrible happened to Donnie.
End of Part 1