Havin' A Ball

Havin' A Ball is an episode of the Happy Tree Friends internet series, the fifth of the first season. This episode introduces the father-son duo, Pop, the bear father determined to make his son happy, and Cub, the pure and innocent child that dies a lot despite his cuteness.

HTF Episode Description
A friendly game of catch goes horribly wrong for this father and son bear. Pop tries to impress Cub with his ball handling skills, but disaster ensues and a rescue chopper goes down. So sad that even the simple things go so wrong in Happy Tree Friends Land.

Plot
The episode begins with the new father and son Happy Tree Friends Pop and Cub playing catch with a big red and yellow ball. Unfortunately, Pop throws a little too hard and the ball bounces off Cub's head, sending the ball to land right next to a tree behind Cub. But it is revealed that the ball landed on the opposite side of a freeway, with speeding vehicles in their path. Pop nervously tugs the collar on his robe and, not wanting to disappoint Cub, has no choice but to cross the road and fight the traffic. The same time Pop leaves the scene, a medical helicopter flies behind Cub.

Over the background, the sound of vehicles crashing and Pop screaming can be heard. Pop barely makes it across the road, with a skidmark over his face, and a steering wheel lodged in his right arm. Though severely injured, Pop successfully retrieves the ball. Unfortunately, when Pop takes one step forward, he suddenly begins falling down a cliff. As he falls, Pop notices a medical helicopter with Lumpy in the gurney is just beneath him. Realizing this, Pop begins screaming as he gets sliced and shredded apart by the helicopter's rotor blades. Pop's sliced up remains stack up in a neat pile, and the ball lands right next to his remains in a puddle of blood.

Cub, who successfully climbed down the cliff with the help of some rock climbing equipment, retrieves his ball. But the instant he grabs it, the gurney Lumpy was on disconnects from the helicopter, and lands on top of Cub, crushing his entire body. Lumpy, looking up and noticing something, tries in vain to move, but only succeeds in moving only a few inches. The helicopter (for unknown reasons) loses control, and slams on to the ground, crushing Lumpy, and the ball still remains untouched. Just before the episode ends, as a final decoration, Cub's beanie lands on top of the ball.

Moral
"Eat your Veggies!"

Injuries

 * After Pop crosses the busy traffic, he gets a skid mark across his face, and a steering wheel lodged in his right arm.
 * Lumpy has an unknown injury that requires him to go to the hospital.

Deaths

 * 1) Generic Tree Friends might have died in the traffic accident. (Debatable)
 * 2) Pop is sliced up by the blades of a helicopter.
 * 3) Cub is crushed by a falling gurney.
 * 4) Lumpy is crushed by a falling helicopter.
 * 5) The helicopter pilot possibly dies in the helicopter crash. (Debatable)

Goofs

 * 1) The safety pin on Cub's diaper changes position throughout the episode.
 * 2) Initially there is no cliff on the other side of the highway. It only appears when Pop walks it after retrieving the ball.
 * 3) When Pop falls off the cliff the steering wheel embedded in his arm falls away, but for a frame, when you get a close-up of Pop falling, it is actually back in his arm before disappearing again.
 * 4) Cub is almost as tall as Pop when they are playing with the ball.
 * 5) The blood in this episode is colored incorrectly.
 * 6) When Pop is sliced by the helicopter's blades, Lumpy & the gurney are about as big as the helicopter.
 * 7) In the scene at the bottom of the cliff, the cliff base is not actually visible until the helicopter crushes Lumpy (This is fixed on the DVD).
 * 8) Lumpy isn't shown on the gurney when the helicopter is first shown, although it is possible that Pop caused his injuries by crossing the road.
 * 9) Cub's remains are bigger than Pop's. This might be because some of Pop's body parts were sliced completely by the propeller.
 * 10) When Pop is sliced by the helicopter's blades, some of his blood can be seen floating in midair. In the "classics remastered" version of this episode on YouTube, this scene is edited to make the blood appear on the side of the cliff.
 * 11) When Cub retrieves his ball after Pop's death, some blood was splattered on the ball. But when the ball gets flung in the air after the helicopter crashes, the blood on the ball isn't there anymore.
 * 12) When Mondo uploaded the HD Version of this episode, they accidentally spelled "Friends" wrong. Instead, it's spelled as "Firends".
 * 13) Over half of the comments on YouTube say that they recognized this.

Quick Shot Moment
When Lumpy tries to escape from the falling helicopter, there is a brief shot of Pop falling down the cliff just before he gets shredded by the helicopter.

Note: This is fixed in the Classics Remastered versions from YouTube and Mondomedia.com.

Trivia

 * The phrase "having a ball" means to have fun, or enjoy yourself.
 * This is one of only two instances in an episode where Pop dies before Cub. This later happens in Stealing the Spotlight.
 * This episode is a reversal of the standard Pop and Cub formula. In future episodes, Cub dies because of Pop's careless actions or negligence. In this one, however, Pop goes out of his way to make Cub happy by crossing heavy traffic, so he can fetch Cub's ball. He doesn't kill or injure his son in the process and ends up losing his own life, before he can even give the ball back.
 * This is the first episode where no one survives.
 * Some versions of this episode showed the side of the cliff at the end, but not all.
 * This is the first episode to introduce the use of vehicles (cars, trucks, and a helicopter).
 * The helicopter is very small compared to real life rescue helicopters such as the S-70A.
 * This is the first episode where Lumpy dies.
 * This is one of the few episodes with Pop and Cub's theme music.
 * This is the first episode where a main character appears and doesn't have a starring role (Lumpy).
 * This introduces the method of killing other characters indirectly (Pop and Cub).
 * This is the first episode where Lumpy appears and his antlers don't change directions.
 * This is the first episode without any female characters to any extent.