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Red light, green light, 1, 2,3! |
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Kaeloo originally started out as a three-minute animated short film made for Annecy 2007, which is the series pilot.
Synopsis
A frog named Kaelou tries to play Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3 with her friends Moignon (a squirrel), Quack Quack (an indestructible duck), and Mr. Cat (a cat). Mr. Cat keeps tormenting Quack Quack and ruining the game.
Plot
A squirrel named Moignon is playing video games while his friend, Quack Quack the duck, sits next to him eating yogurt. Their friend Kaelou, a frog, walks up to them and announces that she has an idea: they can play a game of Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3. Quack Quack and Moignon get excited and cheer loudly, with the latter being determined to win the game. Their friend Mr. Cat, who is, as his name suggests, a cat, emerges from a cat flap upon hearing the noise. He looks around and realizes that the others are playing what he refers to as "crappy baby games".
The rules of the game are: Kaelou turns her back towards a wall and says "Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3" while the others stand at a starting line some distance away. While her back is turned, the others should move forward, and then Kaelou turns around. The others should not move when she can see them, or they have to go back to the starting line. The first one to touch the wall is the winner.
The buddies start playing. Due to Moignon having a Tourette's-like tic, his neck repeatedly spasms. Kaeloo counts this as movement, and Moignon is forced to go back to the starting line. Mr. Cat walks up to Kaelou and asks her if he can join the game. She agrees to allow him to play, but on one condition: he should not hurt Quack Quack. Mr. Cat promises he will not, but each time Kaelou's back is turned he does something horrible to Quack Quack, like cutting off his arms or trying to strangle him. Moignon is repeatedly sent back to the starting line as his neck involuntarily spasms. Kaelou catches Mr. Cat in the act of barbecuing Quack Quack and setting him on fire. She tries to remain calm, but he continues to annoy her until she transforms into a hulking monster.
Kaelou beats Mr. Cat up, causing him to change shape. He states that she has "no sense of humor". Meanwhile, Moignon saves Quack Quack from burning up by putting out the fire. Kaelou squashes Mr. Cat into a frisbee shape and throws him, and inadvertently, Quack Quack's legs are chopped off by the "frisbee" as he tries to run to the wall.
Quack Quack continues to hop towards the wall despite losing all his limbs. Moignon is angry, since he wanted to win, and he finds a chainsaw and a pair of roller skates nearby. Instead of using the roller skates, he puts the chainsaw on the ground and activates it, grabs the handle and lets it drag him to the finish line. Just as Quack Quack is about to touch the wall, Moignon impales his head with the chainsaw, preventing him from winning. Moignon touches the wall and wins, and then realizes what he just did and apologizes to Quack Quack.
Later, Kaelou, who has returned back to normal, apologizes to the others for losing her temper. A lovestruck Mr. Cat, with hearts floating around his head, tells her that she is "sub-zero" when she's angry, and then proceeds to say that "crappy baby games aren't scoring TV ratings". Kaelou transforms again, as she finds the usage of swear words to be upsetting.
Characters
Trivia
- This episode is different from the actual series in many ways:
- The characters have different designs.
- In this episode, Kaeloo's name was Kaelou and even in the English dub, Stumpy was called Moignon (his name in the French dub) instead of Stumpy.
- Kaeloo's voice is more feminine and high-pitched in the actual show, and Stumpy and Mr. Cat also have different voices.
- Kaeloo calls the other characters "kids" instead of "buddies", so it is possible that she was an adult in the original concept.
- The theme song was different from the one in the show.
Continuity
- This episode showed that Mr. Cat has a crush on Kaeloo, a fact that is also shown several times in the show.
- This episode was remade in the actual show as "Let's Play Red Light, Green Light".
- According to the episode "Let's Play Return to the Super Future", this episode is canon with the rest of the series.
Cultural References
- Mr. Cat cutting off Quack Quack's arms with a chainsaw while wearing a hockey mask is a reference to the Friday the 13th film series.
Video
Gallery
The gallery for the Pilot can be viewed here.