[UA] the Adventures of Pete and Pete

[John Tynes]

> I had completely forgotten about that show, mainly because I haven't had
> cable in Much Too Long (oh, I pine for my Powerpuff Girls...).

Pete & Pete was indeed a marvelous show that probably qualifies as an
influence on UA. A few highlights for those who haven't seen it...

* The episode where the school bus driver was dumped by his girlfriend.
Instead of taking the kids home, he drove them slowly around town for hours
visiting places he and his girl had been, giving a depressed, running
narration over the bus PA.

* The episode where the ice cream man introduces a new ice cream treat
called the Orange Lazarus. A bad guy whose name I forget begins chomping on
them too fast in order to achieve brain freeze. Ice cream man: "But I
created the Orange Lazarus for good!" Bad guy: "It is good...good and
FROSTY!"

* The episode where the Petes' family is on a road trip vacation and begins
competing with another, far more perfect family to see who can stack more
luggage and belongings on top of their station wagon. The Petes' family
finally wins by taking off all their clothes and using them to raise their
stack height, then drive off naked into the sunset.

* The episode where little Pete pretended to be sick so he could skip
school. Hijinks ensued, and at the end he had to race home before his mom
arrived. But he realized that he'd forgotten to close the garage door and
didn't have time to run downstairs, so he carefully aimed the door remote
control and bounced the signal off the metal plate in his mother's head as
she drove down the street, activating the door just in time to close it
before she saw anything. (The Metal Plate In Mom's Head appeared in the
opening credits to every show, and occasionally allowed her to listen to
radio stations.)

* Artie, The Strongest Man In The Universe. He was little Pete's personal
superhero in the first season, a wiry, geeky-looking guy in striped long
johns who always rushed to little Pete's defense. When Artie went missing,
little Pete had to summon him by getting big Pete's high school marching
band to play "Superfreak" because he knew it would draw Artie "like a giant
funk magnet."

* The episode where big Pete and his bestest friend Ellen were in a school
band competition. They choreographed the band's movements on the field to
form the school's initials, a standard maneuver, but in a daring move "we
choreographed the initials not in the usual Helvetica, but in Times Roman
Gothic."

* The episode where Ellen becomes convinced that, statistically speaking,
there must be a space alien disguised as some kid in their school. She's
right.

* The great schoolyard villains: Paper Cut, who hurled pieces of paper like
throwing stars to cut your flesh; Pit Stain, the boy who sweated acid; and
of course, Endless Mike.

<- John Tynes - rev at tccorp.com - http://www.JohnTynes.com/ ->
It's the strange thing about you mystics--how often your
little ecstasies wear a skirt. (RABBIT, RUN, John Updike)


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