- First aired: December 18, 1982
- Story by: Unknown
- Duration: 11 minutes
Cast
- Peter Cullen as Pete
- Patty Maloney as Darla
- Julie McWhirter Dees as Alfalfa, Porky and Woim
- Scott Menville as Spanky
- Shavar Ross as Buckwheat
- B. J. Ward as Butch
Summary
Holding a bag of groceries, Alfalfa sneaks towards a shed where Spanky and Porky are planning something that Alfalfa is not supposed to find out about. Alfalfa tries everything he can to gain access, including his famous off-key singing. Spanky still wanted him to go away, but Porky found a way to let him in, though a small door to the right of the bigger door outside. Alfalfa successfully gained access, but Spanky opened the door, assuming Alfalfa was outside, and Alfalfa surprised Spanky from inside the shed, and locked Alfalfa out, causing Spanky to demand he get back in.
The reason for Spanky wanting Alfalfa to go away is because of a top secret project Buckwheat was working on, which involves mirrors. Outside, lurking in a nearby bush, are Butch and Woim, up to their old tricks again. They head to the shed, where Butch uses a special rod to retrieve something, but sets off a mouse trap that releases a weight, landing on a seesaw, setting off a pinwheel, and releasing a paper plane that flew over the bullies, and came in contact with a heavy green ball that rolled down a chute, landing in Pete’s water bowl, and setting off Pete’s temper and scaring the bullies away.
Meanwhile, as the bullies ran away, Spanky witnessed their antics, and Buckwheat decided it was a good time to test out his latest invention – a device that sets off colorful light particles operated by crank. Pete is then seen roaming in front of the shed door, and the bullies have returned, and decided to peek into a window, but one of the Rascals dressed as Pete looked through the window to scare the bullies away also. Little did Butch know that it was actually Pete making the dog sounds through a water spout in sync to the Pete mask. Now, Butch is wearing a bush costume, and Woim is dressed as a fire hydrant, about to seek revenge. An official from the dog pound was on the streets, and Butch decided to lure Pete by flicking a piece of meat on a fishing line. Pete chased after it, and when he was near the bullies in disguise, Pete did eat the meat, and Butch’s hand grabbed Pete’s collar with his dog license, which Pete doesn’t know about since he was focusing on eating the meat. Then, the Rascals left he shed after a hard day’s work, with Buckwheat on his bicycle and the other Rascals on foot. Alfalfa discovered that Butch and Woim had reported to the dog pound official that Pete’s dog license being missing, most likely as an act of retaliation against the Rascals, and the official vowed to hunt down the dog. The dog pound official approached the Rascals and realized they were caught, and Pete was scared stiff. Butch swung the collar in his hand, and the dog catcher went back to his vehicle. Darla then approached the bullies and accused them of their act of evil. He showed off the stolen collar in Darla’s face, and she tried to grab the collar back, but Butch refused to, and Buckwheat and Porky drove off on their bicycle to investigate the problem.
But it was too late, as Pete was already being placed into the dog catcher’s truck, and headed for the Greenpoint City Pound. Buckwheat and Porky passed by the truck, and Pete managed to escape freely, and sat in the basket of Buckwheat’s bicycle. As the dog catcher headed for the downtown area, Buckwheat, and another Rascal, dressed as a tall man wearing a hat and a beard with a cane in his hand. Pete stuck his head out of the coat, and the dog catcher discovered Pete, and Buckwheat quickly walked away. But the so-called tall man lost his balance, lost his coat and then revealed Buckwheat, on top of Pete, who was on top of Porky. The threesome made a run for it, and headed to their bicycle and rode off quickly, causing the dog catcher to chase after them. Then their bicycle hit a bump in the pavement, and they flew off the bicycle, only to end up back on it soon afterwards. Then they discovered another bump in the pavement and flew off and flew back in again, and then hit a curb where they flew off, hanging on a street light, and the dog catcher had successfully abducted Pete. Buckwheat and Porky slid down the street light, and saw the dog catcher lock Pete in the back of the truck and take him to the dog pound, causing Buckwheat and Porky some grief. Alfalfa, Spanky and Darla were in the area to witness their beloved pooch being taken into custody.
Spanky then learn it was Butch who was behind his behavior, and Spanky accused him of his actions. But Butch wanted special treatment from the Rascals afterwards. Buckwheat was giving Butch a manicure, Alfalfa was polishing Butch’s shoes, and Darla was feeding Butch grapes, and Porky was fanning over Butch’s head. Darla discovered that Porky was interested in eating the grapes, and Porky grabbed the grapes from Darla’s hand and ate them. Afterwards, Porky then grabbed two fans in his hands and attempted to fly in the air, and while mid-air, Porky started to fall. Spanky was writing something in a book, and called for Butch’s attention, but Butch made him do laundry. But then Alfalfa was encountered by a dark-colored aggressive dog, who in turn chased Alfalfa through the streets, even towards the downtown area. Alfalfa approached a fence, and ran up it as if he was defying gravity, but was then hanging from his jacket, which tore, and Alfalfa fell into a trash can. Alfalfa was then smelling, and a rat saw Alfalfa running in action. Ironically, the rat didn’t like the smell, and fainted. Alfalfa ran into a supermarket, and his scent caused shoppers to flee, and Alfalfa managed to get his hands on some food. Alfalfa was then startled by something, and managed to get back to the Rascals. Spanky wanted some lemonade made, using what Alfalfa thought was instant lemonade powder, only to learn it was actually instant tea. Spanky decided to make it lemonade again by using Porky’s lemon-flavored lollipop, smashing it, thus making it lemonade powder, and inserting it into the glass of tea. Alfalfa gave Butch the glass of lemonade, but Butch refused to accept and was showing signs of tiredness.
Now, the Rascals are at the trunk of the treehouse, tired and exhausted, and the Rascals had to think of another plan to defeat Butch’s schemes. Spanky then had an idea, and the Rascals huddled together and discussed their plan of action. The Rascals headed back to the shed, where they would lure Butch inside. Alfalfa and Darla were pretending to play ping-pong, making Butch believe they were using an invisible ball, but the sounds were actually coming from underneath a table, as Buckwheat was tapping his fingers against the table. Butch grabbed the paddle from Alfalfa, and Darla made Butch sit into a chair, then Buckwheat had decided to set off his invention to create red and yellow particles, which scared Butch, who in turn confessed to Spanky, and surrendered Pete’s collar into Darla’s hand, upon her request. In the end, the Rascals are now at the dog pound, giving Pete back his collar with dog license attached to it, and Pete was seen celebrating his freedom.
Notes/Trivia
- The dog catcher is not to be confused with Officer Ed.
- The trenchcoat plot was likely a shoutout to the Our Gang theatrical shorts "Teacher's Beau" and "Two Too Young". It was previously seen in the animated episode "Yachtsa' Luck" and later recycled in the bank scene in the 1994 feature film adaptation.