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 does more harm than good, and Cub, the pure and innocent child that dies a lot despite his cuteness.
HTF Episode Description[]
Happy Tree Friends website (pre-Atom)[]
It's bear-bonding time for "Pop and Cub."[2]
Alternative Happy Tree Friends website (pre-Atom)[]
It's bear-bonding time for Pop and Cub as a father makes a leap of faith for his son![3]
Happy Tree Friends website (post-Atom)[]
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.[4]
Plot[]
The episode begins with a tan-colored bear named Pop using a big red and yellow ball to play catch with his infant son, Cub. Unfortunately, Pop throws a little too hard and the ball bounces off Cub's head, seemingly landing right next to a tree behind him. However, it is then revealed that the ball landed on the opposite side of a freeway, with speeding vehicles in Pop and Cub's 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 to retrieve the ball. After Pop leaves the scene, a medical helicopter flies by behind Cub.

As the camera moves to show the ball, the sound of vehicles crashing and Pop screaming can be heard in the background. He barely makes it across the road, with a skidmark over his face and a steering wheel lodged in his right arm. Though severely injured, he successfully retrieves the ball, to his relief. Unfortunately, when he takes one step forward, he suddenly begins falling down a cliff. As he falls, he notices a medical helicopter with Lumpy on the gurney 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 and his hat stack up in a neat pile, and the ball lands right next to them in a puddle of blood.
Cub, who successfully climbed down the cliff with the help of some rock climbing equipment, retrieves his ball. However, 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 onto the ground, crushing Lumpy, and the ball remains untouched. Just before the episode ends, as a final decoration, Cub's beanie lands on top of the ball.
Moral[]
"Eat your Veggies!"
Deaths[]
- Generic Tree Friends might have died in a traffic accident. (Debatable)
- Pop is sliced up by the blades of a helicopter.
- Cub is crushed by a falling gurney with Lumpy on it.
- Lumpy is crushed by a falling medical helicopter (to which his gurney was connected to).
- The helicopter pilot possibly dies in the helicopter crash. (Debatable)
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.
Survival Rate[]
- Amount of surviving main characters: 0
- Amount of dead main characters: 3
- Total rate: 0%
Destruction[]
- One or more cars may be ruined because of the steering wheel in Pop's arm and some sounds.
- Pop's robe is shredded by the helicopter's propeller.
- The helicopter crashes after losing control.
- The gurney is destroyed when the helicopter falls on it.
Goofs[]
- When Mondo uploaded the HD version of this episode, they accidentally spelt "Friends" wrong. Instead, it's spelt as "Firends".
- Cub is almost as tall as Pop when they are playing with the ball.
And to think that younglings who also wear diapers are a bit smaller than this...
- After the ball hits Cub in the head, his pupils become inverted.
- The safety pin on Cub's diaper changes position throughout the episode.
- When Cub notices the ball is on the other side of the street, his philtrum disappears.
- The blue trucks on the highway appear to be traveling backwards.
- There is no way that ball would have traveled that far, or avoid the traffic.
- When Pop sighs after crossing the road, his philtrum disappears. It disappears again when he falls off the cliff.
- Lumpy isn't shown on the gurney when the helicopter is first shown, although Pop can cause his injuries by crossing the road.
- Initially, there is no cliff on the other side of the highway. It only appears when Pop walks off it after retrieving the ball.
- It is near-impossible for someone to survive being run over in the face by a truck. Pop's skull would have been crushed completely.
- 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 back in his arm before disappearing again.
- The blood in this episode is colored incorrectly.
- When Pop is sliced by the helicopter's blades, Lumpy and the gurney are about as big as the helicopter.
- When Pop is sliced by the helicopter's blades, the cliff he falls off of isn't visible, and it doesn't reappear until the helicopter crushes Lumpy. (Youtube Version only)
- When Cub retrieves his ball after Pop's death, some blood is splattered on the ball. However, when the ball gets flung in the air after the helicopter crashes, the blood on the ball isn't there anymore until it lands.
- Rhode Montijo's name isn't in the credits, even though Lumpy's voice can be heard.
- When Cub gets crushed by the gurney, his remains are as big as Pop's remains.
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. Oddly, the background is completely purple.
Note: This is fixed in the Classics Remastered version.
References[]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20011105094413/http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/animation/default.asp?sectionid=19&articleid=4127
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20030205054533/http://www.happytreefriends.com/watch_episodes/index.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20030402130438/http://www.happytreefriends.com/watch_episodes/index.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061107051344/http://mondo.happytreefriends.com/about_the_show/guide/guide_5_havin.html