Wheelin' and Dealin'

Overview

Gallery

Trivia

Are they sure Lumpy's wheels are the wheels they want to steal?
Season:	Internet Season 1
Episode:	8
Aired:	February 18, 2000
Production Number:	108
Writers:	Mark Fiorenza Warren Graff Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro
Director:	Rhode Montijo
Starring Roles	Lifty Shifty
Featuring	Lumpy Handy
Appearances	Generic Tree Friends
Videos	HD
Previous Episode	Nuttin' Wrong with Candy
Next Episode	Pitchin' Impossible

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 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, with Generic Tree Friends filling the stands. Our racers Lumpy and Handy are obviously prepared, but our newest pair of kleptomaniac Happy Tree Friend raccoons named Lifty and Shifty (Shifty being the one wearing a fedora) are not. It turns out their car is lacking tires and a steering wheel. As the two brothers complain about their unfinished kart, Lifty pulls out a screwdriver, and both look at the tires on Lumpy's kart, meaning they're up to something.

When the light hits green, the brothers and Handy zoom off, except Lumpy, who realizes that his tires are suddenly missing. As Lumpy attempts to start his kart, the kart spontaneously combusts, setting Lumpy on fire, but not killing him. We cut to the brothers, where it is revealed they stole Lumpy's tires.

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 signature scowl. While the brothers make the turn, Handy slams into a parked ambulance and is cut in half when his kart runs underneath, his intestines falling 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, filing their bodies down. 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. The iris then closes on the dead bodies of Lifty and Shifty, where Lifty's only arm drops, and Shifty's only eye falls out of its socket, with the nerve still connected.

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 in it when he tried to start his engine.

Goofs

1. There are two goofs in the scene where the racers notice the ambulance:
   1. Shifty is missing his fedora.
   2. Handy's arms are extended.
2. When the wheels fall off Lifty and Shifty's car, Shifty's left arm disappears.
3. At the beginning of the episode, Lumpy's steering wheel is black, but when the race starts, it has red and white stripes.
4. After Handy finishes his car, his tail is absent for the rest of the episode.
5. Merely screwing a wheel onto a car doesn't make it any easier to drive unless you actually do technical work on it.
6. Lumpy has no arms when he crosses the finish line.
7. When Handy is working on his cart, his arms are gone.

Quick Shot Moment

After Lumpy's car explodes, there is a brief shot of Lifty holding a screwdriver.

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

Trivia

• The title of the episode "wheeling and dealing" means to look for something and use it to an advantage.
• 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 where a main character has a featuring role.
• 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 appearance that he doesn't kill anyone or himself.
• Lifty is 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.
• Lifty and Shifty's role in this episode seems to swap in future appearances. In this episode, Lifty seemed to be more dominant and in charge, and took the steering wheel of the car, but in future episodes Shifty seems to be more dominant and in nearly every episode that they drive in a vehicle, Shifty is the driver, an exception being As You Wish.
• This is the first and so far only episode where Handy does his trademark scowl because of something that has nothing to do with his lack of hands. Instead, he does it because Lifty and Shifty stole his steering wheel.