"Un-Valentine's Day" |
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|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 8 | |
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| Production Information | |
| Director |
Terence Harrison Ken Kessel |
| Writer |
Jymn Magon (story) Mark Zaslove (story) Carter Crocker (teleplay) Stephen Sustarsic (teleplay) |
| Prod code | 208 |
| Airdate | October 7, 1989 |
| Episode Chronology | |
| Previous | All's Well That Ends Wishing Well |
| Next | No Rabbit's a Fortress |
Un-Valentine's Day is the forty-third episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It aired on October 7, 1989.
Synopsis
To make sure the Hundred Acre-Wood won't be flooded with Valentine's Day cards like last year, Rabbit cancels Valentines Day, entirely. He tries to tell Pooh to control himself, since last years fiasco was mainly caused by him, but instead, Pooh gives Rabbit a Valentine. Now, forced by Pooh, Rabbit declares to him that there is only option left: to cancel Valentine's Day completely and forever, and he forces him and everyone else to promise that not even a teeny, tiny Valentine gift will be given, which left them (including Pooh) have only one choice left: to agree to Rabbit's "No Valentines Promise". When someone gives Pooh a gift anonymously, the cycle starts yet again. Pooh comes to the conclusion that it must have been Christopher Robin, and his friends all agree by surprise, so they make a big Valentine play to show their appreciation, which was Piglet's idea.
Plot
It's Valentine's day again, and Rabbit holds a meeting to decide how to avoid a repeat of the "terrible fiasco" that was last year's Valentine's day. Tigger agrees but then asks Rabbit what "terrible fiasco" are they talking about. Rabbit refreshes Tigger's memory by explaining to him that ten zillion Valentines had been given out, last year, more than any one animal can use. Gopher's tunnels and Tigger's house were getting overflowed and so messy by them that not even one could find one card. Rabbit explains to the others that most of the blame can be placed on just one of them -- a certain bear who shall remain nameless but whose intials are "Winnie-the-Pooh". Pooh tells Rabbit that it sounds familiar but he can't quite place the face. Rabbit states to everyone that whenever he or anyone else gave Pooh one Valentine, he responded with three. Gopher says that he had forty bushels, Owl says that he have received two hundred thousand bushels at least and Tigger says that he got "quadzillion" and one bushels (which he thinks it is even, except that it is odd), but he wonders how many that is. Since Pooh forgets the situation and gives Rabbit a Valentine and greets him a happy Valentine's day, Rabbit forced by Pooh, tells him that the only option left. Pooh thinks that Rabbi is going give him a Valentine, and he thanks him for that, but Rabbit states to him that the option he is talking about is to cancel Valentine's day completely and forever. He declares to him and everyone else that there is no other way, this calls for drastic measures and they should follow the example set by Eeyore, last year. Piglet told Rabbit that he did not send any Valentines, and Rabbit agrees with him, and he tells him and the others that that way, nobody will have their feelings hurt or be buried by unwated cards. He exclaims to him and everyone else that he wants them to promise that not even a teeny, tiny Valentine gift will be given. Everybody (except Pooh) had been forced by Rabbit to agree with this, which makes the suggestion approved and official.
A short while later, Pooh answers a knock on his door to find an anonymous valentine gift of a pot of honey. He decides that it must have been Piglet who gave him the gift, and walks off to give Piglet one in return. When Piglet gets the gift from Pooh, he feels very ungrateful since he wasn't actually the one who gave Pooh a valentine, and decides to bake him a cake as a thank-you valentine.
After baking the cake, he runs out to deliver it to Pooh as fast as possible, but runs into Tigger on the way. In suprise and fear of Rabbit finding out about the valentine, he throws the cake high into the air, where it lands on Owl, who initially thinks that the cake is snow. When he realizes it's a cake, with "Frum Piglet" written in icing, he thinks Piglet gave him a valentine and goes to give him one in return, "in secret of course".
Owl accidentaly knocks the cake out of his tree and it lands on Tigger, who thinks it is a gift from Owl since there's a feather stuck in it. A chain reaction starts with everyone getting gifts that are for other people and they give each other valentines in secret because of this, with Pooh, dressed as a giant mailbox, acting as the delivery centre. When Rabbit gets a carrot wrapped in a bow delivered to his door, he sets out to find whoever is doing it. Everybody starts sending boxes and boxes of Valentines, but act like they are not Valentines. Rabbit eventually discovers them all at the mailbox.
Rabbit calls another meeting at his house to ask Pooh why he sent the Valentines. He reveals that someone else broke Rabbit's promise first. He just broke it more. He founds out that it was Christopher Robin who sent his Valentine, the only one who didn't know about Rabbit's promise, and everyone (including Rabbit) shockedly agrees with him. Pooh has a new Valentine that they can use, which is "terrifical", but it is kind of on the scrawny side. Tigger says that they need a Valentine so "gigantical", that it will hold all their friends ship and then some. Piglet says that if they act out Pooh's card, it'd be a real life Valentine with all of them in it.
With Rabbit as self-appointed leader they decide to make a play. They plan and rehearse the play, with Pooh and Kenga acting as a couple in love, Piglet acting as Cupid, Gopher and Roo as the orchestra, and Tigger doing the "specialty fects". They present the play to Christopher Robin a short while later, but everything goes wrong, with Piglet swinging from a rope all over the stage while forgetting his line and due to Owl's rope handling, Piglet sets off a giant fan(presumingly put there by Tigger) being turned on and blowing everything away, and finally with Tigger doing the "grand finale" by blowing up barrels of gunpowder and basketballs.
Christopher Robin thinks it was a huge success, calling it "the greatest comedy ever". Christopher then reveals that he wasn't the one who gave the original Valentine to Pooh by giving them all Valentines at that moment. On their way home, Piglet and Pooh run into Eeyore, and it's revealed that EEYORE was the one who gave the original Valentine, inspired by how Pooh "got everybody running around, all excited like, showing how much they cared for each other". He wanted to do the same kind of thing, but says that "An Eeyore never really could, mind you". The episode ends with Piglet saying "Oh, but you did, Eeyore!".
Quotes
- Eeyore - "I remembered the way Pooh got everybody running around, all excited-like...showing how much they cared for each other...made me wish that I could do that...not that an Eeyore ever really could, mind you."
- Owl - "I say, how strange for snow to fall on such a clear day...especially warm, sweet snow...with raspberry hearts."
- Piglet - "It was me! I did it! I'm sorry! Well, um, actually, I didn't do it. I'm not very good under pressure."
- Tigger - "Yeah! My house was a terrible mess! I couldn't even find it! Uh, anyone seen it lately?"
- Rabbit - "And most of the blame can be placed on just one of us---a certain bear who shall not be named but whose initials are "Winnie-the-Pooh"."
Gallery
Trivia
- Eeyore was also not at either of the meetings held in Rabbit's house, so he could have been an easy suspect as well.
Rabbit's archetypical directing skills mave have been inspired from film director Cecil B. DeMille.
- Rabbit's archetypical directing skills during the production of the play may have been based off of film director Cecil B. DeMille, a notable figure from the Golden Age of Hollywood famous for the 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard.
- This is one of the few 23 minutes long episodes of the series (which makes it a half-hour episode due to commercial breaks in most airings). Most episodes are only 11 minutes and a half long and are aired in pairs.
- It should be noted that this episode has the highest character appearance count, with every regular or recurring character of the series making an appearance.
- Gopher and Roo mysteriously pass by Kanga and Pooh after they got blown away by the fan in the bath tub.
- When Gopher is rolling past Kanga and Pooh, he lost his suit, but in the scene where Christopher Robin hands out his cards, Gopher has his suit mysteriously is on him again.
- It would take more than four bushels of cards (and even the whole cupboard of them in Rabbit's house) to plug up Gopher's tunnels.
- This marks Kanga and Roo's only appearance in season 2.
Gallery
