Wheelin' and Dealin'

 Wheelin' and Dealin'  is an episode of the Happy Tree Friends internet series, the eighth of the first season. This episode introduces Lifty & Shifty, the kleptomaniac raccoon brothers that will steal anything for a quick buck. It also introduces the Generic Tree Friends, a variety of animals used as background characters.

HTF's Episode Description
It's off to the races in this episode of Happy Tree Friends! Start your engines and gear up to win, but watch out for Lifty and Shifty, as they'll do anything necessary to keep the lead.

Plot
It's a nice, sunny day at the races for Lumpy, Handy, and Lifty and Shifty, but Lifty and Shifty aren't ready. Their kart has no wheels and the race is about to start. Luckily, the brothers have an idea. The flag waves, and they're off, except for Lumpy, who has seems to have lost his wheels. To make matters worse, a small explosion covers Lumpy from head to toe in soot.

As Handy and the brothers speed down the road, the first turn arrives, only for Lifty and Shifty to realize they have no steering wheel. Handy laughs at the pair's misfortune, but, as he is laughing, the two steal his steering wheel. When Handy realizes what has happened, he gives his trademark frustrated look. While they make the turn, Handy slams into a parked ambulance and is cut in half when his kart runs underneath. His intestines fall out of his severed upper half.

Lifty and Shifty can see the finish line, tasting victory. As luck would have it, however, all four of their wheels fly off, causing their kart to fall on its side. As the kart continues sliding forward, Lifty and Shifty's heads are dragged along the asphalt. Finally, their kart comes to a stop, just missing the finish line. Lumpy suddenly appears, sliding along in his wheel-less, burned kart, claiming victory and leaving Lifty and Shifty in his dust.

Moral
"Look both ways before crossing the street!"

Deaths

 * 1) Handy's racer drives into a parked ambulance. His bottom half is cut away when his kart goes under the ambulance, and his intestines splatter out of his body and on the ground.
 * 2) Lifty and Shifty both die when their kart falls apart and slides on its side, scraping away half of their bodies against the pavement.

Injuries

 * Lumpy's car explodes with him (not killing him) when he tried to start his engine.

Quotes
"Where's the wheel?" - Lifty asks Shifty about their wheel-less cart.

"Huh?" - Shifty's response to Lifty's question, then followed with garbled speech.

"Uh, oh..." - Lifty and Shifty when they're meeting the corner.

Goofs

 * 1) As the ambulance comes into view, Shifty's hat is missing and Handy has arms.
 * 2) When the wheels fall off Lifty and Shifty's car, Shifty's arm disappears.
 * 3) At the beginning of the episode, Lumpy's steering wheel is black, but when the race starts, it is striped red and white.
 * 4) When Lumpy explodes there's a brief shot of Lifty and Shifty with a wrench.
 * 5) After Handy finishes his car, his tail is absent for the rest of the episode.
 * 6) Merely screwing a wheel onto a car doesn't make it any easier to drive unless you actually do technical work on it.

Trivia

 * The title of this episode may be a reference to the 1957 John Coltrane, Mal Waldron, and Frank Wess jazz album of the same name.
 * This episode marks the first appearance of Generic Tree Friends.
 * This is the first of many of Lumpy's jobs.
 * This is the first episode (and the only episode of the First Season of the Internet series) in which Handy dies.
 * As in this episode, Handy would later laugh at Cuddles' misfortune in The Wrong Side of the Tracks.
 * This is one of the few episodes were Lumpy's antlers don't change directions..
 * This marks Lumpy's first episode that he doesn't kill anyone or himself.
 * Lifty & Shifty are responsible for every death.
 * This episode may also be a reference to The Final Destination as in the wheel's falling off and Lumpy's car on fire may be a reference when the car burns into the seatway 180.
 * As shown from the episode's storyboard, Handy's head was originally cut off by his cart's rear wing right after his body gets cut away.
 * There are no female characters in this episode.
 * This is the first episode to show guts.