Banjo Frenzy

Writers: Rhode Montijo Director: Aubrey Ankrum Episode list: Irregular episodes "Banjo Frenzy" is the very first episode of Happy Tree Friends, created in 1999. The animation and writing are fairly primative compared to what the series would later become.

Starring Roles

 * Early version Lumpy

Featuring Roles

 * Early version Cuddles
 * Early version Giggles
 * Early version Toothy

Plot
Lumpy plays the banjo for Cuddles, Giggles, and Toothy, who sit around a campfire. One of the strings on Lumpy's banjo breaks, making him sad. The other three laugh at him, enraging Lumpy. He swings his banjo and decapitates Giggles. He then cuts Cuddles in half down his head and decapitates Toothy. He begins laughing maniacally, when Toothy's eyes open. His severed head bites down on Lumpy's leg, making him scream in pain.

Deaths

 * 1) Giggles and Toothy are decapitated by Lumpy's banjo, though Toothy may not be dead, as his head comes back to life to attack Lumpy.
 * 2) Cuddles is cut in half vertically by Lumpy's banjo.

Trivia

 * 1) The characters in this episode are animated differently than how they are during the regular show. Further, Giggles is a blue squirrel rather than a pink chipmunk and Lumpy is a dinosaur rather than a moose.
 * 2) Lumpy's personality characteristics in this episode, suddenly going from nice to evil, seem to resemble Flippy's personality. The only difference is that his killing spree was caused by humiliation rather than post-traumatic stress disorder.
 * 3) The music Lumpy plays is "Dueling Banjos" from the movie Deliverance.