Class Act/Trivia

Trivia
This is the first episode to have a winter version of the opening. The next Christmas opening would occur in We're Scrooged!. Coincidentally, Lumpy stars in both episodes.
 * This episode is the most popular episode of Happy Tree Friends after the episode Eyes Cold Lemonade.
 * This is the only episode that features all of the original twenty main characters.
 * However, this is only if one counts Flippy and Fliqpy as the same character. If not, Flippy is the only original main character who didn't appear.
 * Cuddles is the only crew member in the play who didn't cause the explosion.
 * Russell is the only character whose entire body and face isn't shown. One can only be sure that he was there by seeing his hook holding Giggles' hand near the end of the episode.
 * ClAct43.png Flaky is falling, The Cursed Idol can be seen sitting on a shelf in the background, on just one frame.
 * The characters who act and/or direct the school play are the five most frequent HTF characters: Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Lumpy and Sniffles (though Petunia is actually the 5th most frequent, with Sniffles being the 6th most frequent) except Nutty. Flaky, The Mole, Lifty, and Shifty are also crew members of the play, as they help with the preparations during the play.
 * This is the first time both Nutty and Sniffles' deaths are caused by other main characters.
 * This is considered the darkest episode of the internet series due to the high amount of deaths. The darkest TV episode is Who's to Flame?.
 * The way Cuddles bounces down the school steps after turning into a bloody cylinder is similar to a slinky.
 * This is the only time Flippy and Splendid are seen onscreen together at the same time. Splendid flies in at the end while Flippy stabs a Tree Friend.
 * It is also the only time that they are in an episode together to date.
 * Cuddles, Giggles, Sniffles, Toothy, Lumpy, Nutty, The Mole, Lifty, Shifty, and Flaky (the tree friends working the play) are the only main characters in this episode to not make background cameos. The other half of the main characters do, however, but not until the fire begins. Petunia is seen screaming during the fire; Disco Bear, Pop, Cub, and Handy (along with some other characters from earlier) are seen injured after the fire; Flippy is seen stabbing a Generic Tree Friend to death while Cro-Marmot is seen standing in the distance; Mime tries to cheer up a Generic Tree Friend with a balloon without success; Splendid is seen flying in when Toothy starts singing; and Russell is seen joining hands with Giggles at the end, seconds before the school explodes.
 * Some characters are noticeable in the shadows just by shape when they start singing (ex: Lumpy, Handy, Russell, Shifty, Mime, etc).
 * When Toothy begins singing outside the school, Giggles' eyes on her severed face moves to look at Toothy.
 * Cuddles weakly raises his hand in the shot featuring The Mole, Pop, and Cub after the fire, signifying that he survived having his face sliced off.
 * This is the first episode where all of the four main bear characters (Pop, Cub, Disco Bear, and Flippy) appear. The second episode where this happens in is A Vicious Cycle.
 * Cuddles and Giggles both suffer an injury in this episode involving the face hole in their costume.
 * If one notices when the school explodes, Cuddles' Christmas tree outfit can be seen flung into the air.
 * This is Splendid's first and only death in the internet series. He also dies in the TV episode Gems the Breaks.
 * This is one of the few episodes where Lifty and Shifty do not steal anything.
 * This was the last episode where Mark Giambruno provided the voices for Lifty and Shifty.
 * This is the only episode where Splendid does not save or kill anybody.
 * During December 2009, a "Blurb" version of this episode was released, featuring remastered animation and pop-up facts, much like the Popcorn version of Spin Fun Knowin' Ya.
 * Since then, Mondo Media occasionally creates Blurbs for internet episodes (And one TV episode).
 * This is one of the few episodes where Lifty and Shifty show concern for each other; Shifty seems to be trying to help or get help for Lifty when part of the latter's body is cut off.
 * This episode has the highest amount of confirmed deaths.
 * This is considered by many fans to be one of the best episodes of Happy Tree Friends.
 * This is one of the many episodes where a character makes "Puppy Eyes". The other instances are Lumpy and Russell in Get Whale Soon, Toothy in Better Off Bread, Nutty in Icy You, Petunia, Giggles, and Lumpy in Stealing the Spotlight, Flaky in Ski Ya, Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya!, Lumpy in In a Jam, Lifty in Easy For You to Sleigh, Lumpy in Letter Late than Never, Fliqpy in Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow, Sniffles in Wrath of Con, and Lumpy in All In Vein and in Aw, Shucks!.
 * This is one of the many episodes to be remastered for the Blurb version.
 * This is the only time Splendid physically appears and has an appearance role instead of a starring role. Similarly, this is the only time that Splendid appears but the episode doesn't focus mostly around him (excluding times he appears as merchandise).
 * This is one of the only two times when Lifty and Shifty interact with Flaky, the other being Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark.
 * Almost every character in this episode suffers at least one injury. The only characters who were not injured at all were Splendid and Cro-Marmot.
 * When everyone is running from the fire inside the school, Pop can be seen tripping over one of Cuddles' severed ears while holding Cub, and when he falls over, he accidentally drops Cub on the star, which explains how it got on Cub in the first place.
 * On the Third Strike DVD, a behind the scenes feature called "Follow the Yellow Rabbit" showed that the school was redesigned multiple times. And for comedic humor, the notes claim that the bell has an engraving that reads "Class of '76 rocks!"
 * This is the first lethal explosion in the entire series. Later, Happy Tree Friends Universe will see several lethal explosions in Kringle Feast, Who's to Flame? and Breaking Wind.

Cultural References

 * The scene where everybody joins hands and sings around the burning school is likely a reference to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

Superlatives

 * When Handy is shown outside, his feet are ironically enough cut off. The same thing will later occur to him again in By The Seat Of Your Pants.
 * Flaky would later suffer a similar injury in Let It Slide, where she would drown after her injury.
 * Cuddles would later suffer a similar death in Ipso Fatso, though in this episode he survives (but later dies in the explosion) and his face remains on top of the cylinder.
 * Cub's injury is similar to Toothy's death in Star Kringle.
 * One of Cub's injuries involved his fingers getting sliced off. Cub suffered a similar injury in Chip Off the Ol' Block.
 * Lifty's injury is similar to Petunia's injury in Snow What? That's What!.

Production Notes

 * According to the staff, they said that they intended to make this episode as special as possible.
 * The crew has said on the commentary for this episode that they gave Cuddles and Giggles' injuries nicknames. They refer to Giggles' injury as "Pizza Face", while they refer to Cuddles' injury as "Slinky Face."