[UA] The Adventures of Pete and Pete

[Hopt]

John Tynes wrote a bunch of stuff about "Pete and Pete":

Obvious UA parables:

> * 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.

Godwalkers warring for ascension of the King of the Road archetype. (At
the beginning of the show, the rival family's dad had KING OF THE ROAD
as his vanity license plate, but the best Pete's dad could get from the
county office was KING O FROD. When the rivals lose, they switch plates.
Classic.) And let's not forget big Pete's crush on the girl in the rival
car's backseat. "Why does the radio always play the saddest song when
you're down?"

> * 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.)

Mom as a possible clockwork automaton. (This would nicely explain Dad's
forgetfulness. :P)

> * 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."

Avatar of the Childhood Hero. Or if you wanted to get really weird, the
Comte. :) The only thing I remember about "Artie, The Strongest Man...
In The Wooorld!" is that he got his powers from his ultrastarched
flannel shirt. And there was one episode where the Petes' dad and
Ellen's dad were in a feud over a car race, and little Pete had Artie
push Ellen's entire house, fixings, foundation and all, six centimeters
to the left. Hilarious shot of Ellen's dad stepping out of his car
inattentively, fumbling out his keys, and running into the closed door
when it doesn't open. He looks down at the keys in his hand to find that
his key *bonk*ed into the wood of the door, rather than the lock. Talk
about an upset routine. :P 

> * 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.

You forgot Tuna Face! So named because he always ate open-faced tuna
melt sandwiches. :)


Hopt
-- 
"Nihilistic mystics, epistolic alcoholics
Messianic manics, cataclysmic and horrific
In the age of superboredom, hype and mediocrity
Celebrate relentlessness, menace to society..."
   -KMFDM, "Megalomaniac"

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