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"A Bird in the Hand"
Season 3, Episode 10b
Abirdinthehand
Production Information
Director Terence Harrison
Ken Kessel (Supervising Director)
Writer Bruce Talkington
Carter Crocker
Prod code 310b
Airdate November 10, 1990
Episode Chronology
Previous Tigger Got Your Tongue
Next Sorry, Wrong Slusher

A Bird in the Hand is the second segment of the tenth episode of the third season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It originally aired on ABC on November 10, 1990.

Synopsis[]

Kessie has come back from the south to visit her friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Sadly, the welcome back party turns into a hostage situation when this episode also marks the return of Stan the Woozle and Heff the Heffalump. They return to the Hundred Acre Wood in order to kidnap Kessie and hold her for ransom (that being honey) as revenge on Pooh and his friends for banishing them in this double sequel.

Plot[]

At Rabbit’s house, Rabbit, Tigger, and Piglet are preparing a party for Kessie, the bluebird’s return. He is excited and eager to have her back. When Piglet arranges some flowers, a familiar orange colored trunk swipes them from the window. Piglet shows Rabbit the empty vase and Rabbit tells him to put flowers in the arrangement (and to bring daffodils and daisies but no dandelions), while Piglet gets confused with what flower to put in the arrangement, and goes outside to get the flowers, Stan and Heff, who return to the Hundred Acre Wood from their exile at the end of The Great Honey Pot Robbery, appear from behind the house. To get revenge on Pooh, Tigger and Piglet for stealing the honey, they steal Kessie. Heff starts eating the flowers, prompting Stan to remind Heff the heffalump that those are not what they’re were there for. Heff wonders why they’re there and Stan tells him to pipe down when he sees Pooh approaching with a wagon full of honey jars. The honey thieves go back into hiding. When Pooh comes, he is reluctant to give his honey away so Rabbit could make treats for the party. He thinks that they could get more honey, making Pooh get more depressed. Stan and Heff overhear this and Stan starts to think up a plan to steal the honey. Pooh asks Rabbit why does he needs the honey. He replies that the honey is for the welcome home party. Then, Piglet arrives in with the dandelions, accidentally going against Rabbit’s wishes. He sneezes, making his house a mess and sends Stan and Heff flying. Rabbit starts to panic and tells Tigger, Piglet, and Pooh what to do. Also he tells a grown up Kessie to set the table, only to find out that she’s already back. His mood changes from panic to happiness.

Stan realizes that Kessie may be what has been needed for them. They leave as Rabbit and the others were trying to explain that they were making a great welcome back party but they hit some minor bumps. Kessie doesn’t mind, however, and she is just glad to be back home. She calls RabbitRabbit,” instead of “Rabbie.” Rabbit is worried as Kessie replies that she’s simply too old for “Rabbie.” Nevertheless, he’s still happy and that he tells her that she’ll always be his baby bird. Kessie thinks she could stay for a little while.

Meanwhile, in a cave where Stan and Heff reside, Heff the orange heffalump is seen at a chalkboard, making different plans while Stan Matt the gray woozle is sitting on at a table, listening to them. None of them are the right plan. During this, Piglet, Tigger, and Pooh are looking through Rabbit’s window. Piglet thinks that Rabbit is happy to have Kessie the bluebird back in his life while Tigger and Pooh comment on Kessie “not being Kessie-like.” Rabbit is treating Kessie as if she’s still the baby bluebird before, while Kessie is trying to tell Rabbit that she’s grown up. He puts her in bed for a nap, although Kessie says she’s too old for naps. Then she considers that in order to convince Rabbit that’s she’s growing up is to leave home and look out for herself. Cut to the forest, Heff and Stan are walking about in the forest. Heff doesn’t remember the plan he came up with. Stan explains it one last time: they kidnap Kessie then they ransom her for honey. Heff The heffalump tells him that he’s brilliant, forgetting that it was his plan! Then Heff questions one detail left out of their plan: How are they going to get the bird in their hands? Suddenly, they find Kessie in front of them, asking if there were any “vacant nests.”

Back at Rabbit’s home, he comes back and find Kessie gone. Believing that she wants to play hide and seek, Rabbit goes and find her. By sundown, Rabbit is extremely concerned for Kessie. He stumbles across the honey thieves’ home, where they've been waiting. The scared Rabbit asks them if they have seen Kessie the bluebird. Now, Rabbit is seen in a cage with Kessie and Stan expects him to pay for the ransom. Rabbit refuses to pay a ransom because there’s got to be a ransom note. Stan quickly realizes that he had forgotten to do just that.

At night, Stan sneaks into the Hundred Acre Wood with the ransom note (which says, “We have DA Byrd”). Stan Matt The woozle hammers it into Pooh’s door. In the morning, Tigger, Piglet, and Pooh find the note and are not quite sure where the letter is from or what it contains. They decide to ask Rabbit what the note means, unaware of Rabbit’s disappearance. When they find that Rabbit and Kessie are gone, the trio venture deep into the forest to find them. Once Pooh, Tigger and Piglet walk by Stan and Heff’s cave, they end up getting caught, one by one, and placed in the cage with their two lost friends. The honey thieves expect them to pay up, but Piglet asks the thieves a simple question, “If we’re here, who’s left to ransom us?” Stan considers this a valid point, but Pooh suggests that they could pay for themselves.

It is later found that Stan and Heff have acquired a great deal of honey, all while Rabbit is lecturing Pooh that if he had stayed quiet, they would have been let go. Even though Rabbit apologizes to Kessie, she insists that Stan and Heff would be taking care of them. When Stan asks why, Kessie retaliates with the fact that if they were not happy, why bother to pay honey for themselves. Even Tigger understands this, according to him. Stan and Heff bring a bed, and this is where Kessie begins to demand for many things: warm milk, a bedtime story, and even some of the honey ransom. This is where Rabbit realizes that she has been acting more like him than he is. When Kessie starts demanding said honey ransom, she insists on enjoying some from a small honey pot at the bottom of the pile. While Heff is hesitant, Stan convinces him to give her exactly what she wants. When Heff takes the pot from the bottom, there is a cut to outside of the cave where the viewer can hear a crash and suddenly see a long trail of honey flowing from the cave. Stan and Heff are stuck within the sticky mess and Tigger asks Rabbit if he thinks they should help them. Stan tells them to keep Kessie away from them if they want to help them.

Rabbit and Kessie leave the cave, where Rabbit thanked her for saving them. They come to an agreement that even though Rabbit cannot be her “Rabbie,” anymore, he will still be her very good friend, Rabbit. As they leave and Tigger and Piglet follow, Pooh remains to “clean up” the mess that erupted in the cave.

Characters[]

Interval Title Card[]

Cast[]

Voice actor Character
Jim Cummings Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
John Fiedler Piglet
Ken Sansom Rabbit and Stan the Woozle
Tracy Rowe Kessie
Chuck McCann Heff the Heffalump

Credits[]

Produced by
WALT DISNEY
TELEVISION ANIMATION

Producer/Supervising Director
KEN KESSEL

Story Editor

BRUCE TALKINGTON

Director

TERENCE HARRISON

Assistant Story Editor

CARTER CROCKER

“TIGGER GOT

YOUR TONGUE”

Written by

ERIC LEWALD

BRUCE TALKINGTON

“A BIRD

IN THE HAND”

Written by

BRUCE TALKINGTON

CARTER CROCKER

With the Voice Talents of

JOHN FIEDLER

KEN SANSOM

MICHAEL GOUGH

CHUCK McCANN

TRACY ROWE

FRANK WELKER

JIM CUMMINGS

as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger

Assistant Producer

PEGGY BECKER

Assistant Director

ED GHERTNER

Storyboard Designers

RHOYDON SHISHIDO

JIM McLEAN

Key Layout Design

DENNIS GRECO

Character Design

LEONARD SMITH

Background Styling

PARO HOZUMI

Color Stylist

JILL STIRDIVANT

Supervising Timing Director

BOB SHELLHORN

Timing Directors

CAROLE BEERS

JAMES T. WALKER

VONNIE BATSON

Track Reader

SKIP CRAIG

Script Coordinator

MIRITH SCHILDER

Archives Administrator

KRISTA BUNN

Artwork Coordinator

KAREN SILVA

Talent Coordinator

OLIVIA MINER

Post Production Manager

SARA DURAN

Post Production Supervisor

JOSEPH HATHAWAY

Post Production Coordinator

JEFFREY ARTHUR

Production Assistants

MICHELLE PAPPALARDO

NANCI BATTELLE

WADE ZIA NASSIR

JOHN ROYER

Managing Film Editor

RICH HARRISON

Supervising Editor

CHARLIE KING

Editor

RICK HINSON

Assistant Editors

CRAIG PAULSEN

DAVID LYNCH

Apprentice Editors

THOMAS NEEDELL

JENNIFER HARRISON

Songs Written and Produced

by

STEVE NELSON

Music by

STEVE NELSON

&

THOM SHARP

Animation Production by

WALT DISNEY

TELEVISION ANIMATION

AUSTRALIA

Animation Supervisor

DALE CASE

Animation Directors

GAIRDEN COOKE

IAN HARROWELL

HENRY NEVILLE

Layout Director

ALEX NICHOLAS

Layout Artists

YOSH BARRY      SCOTT BENNETT

ZHIGIANG DING            JOHN HILL

VICTOR JUY            STEVE LYONS

MARK MULGREW DAVID SKINNER

BUN UNG              KEVIN WOTTON

Animators

ROWEN AVON-SMITH         WALLY MICATI

TY BOSCO                     KATHIE O’ROURKE

CHRIS BRADLEY                  KEVIN PEATY

ANDREW COLLINS               CAROL SEIDL

GEOFF COLLINS RICHARD SLAPCZYNSKI

DICK DUNN                         PAULO SANTO

ARIEL FERRARI             MIKE STAPLETON

PETER GARDINER   ANDREW SZEMENYEI

WARWICK GILBERT    MARIA SZEMENYEI

GERRY GRABNER           STEVEN TAYLOR

LIANNE HUGHES       STEVEN TRENBIRTH

DWAYNE LABBE                      JEAN TYCH

MORRIS LEE                      KANG-LIN ZHU

HELEN McADAM                                       

Assistant Supervisors

JANEY DUNN

MICKIE CASSIDY

DI RUDDER

Background Supervisor

BEVERLEY McNAMARA

Background Artists

BARRY DEAN       JERRY LIEW

PAUL PATTIE HELLEN STELLE

KEN WRIGHT

Production Manager

DAN FORSTER

*.

©1990 The Walt Disney Company

All Rights Reserved

Walt Disney

Television

Distributed by

Buena Vista International, Inc.

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