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
- 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.
- 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.
Survival Rate
- Amount of surviving main characters: 1
- Amount of dead main characters: 3
- Total rate: 25%
Destruction
- Handy's car might crash after it gets under the ambulance.
- Lifty and Shifty's car gets destroyed near the finish.
- Lumpy's car explodes at the start of the episode and can be seen on fire at the end of the episode.
Goofs
- There are two goofs in the scene where the racers notice the ambulance:
- Shifty is missing his fedora.
- Handy's arms are extended.
- When the wheels fall off Lifty and Shifty's car, Shifty's left arm disappears.
- At the beginning of the episode, Lumpy's steering wheel is black, but when the race starts, it has red and white stripes.
- After Handy finishes his car, his tail is absent for the rest of the episode.
- Merely screwing a wheel onto a car doesn't make it any easier to drive unless you actually do technical work on it.
- Lumpy has no arms when he crosses the finish line.
- 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.