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Spaghetti Pig Out is the fifth episode of Round The Twist.


Summary[]

A lightning strike hits the lighthouse and charges up the television remote control. At school, Tiger announces the 3rd Annual Great Spaghetti Pig Out aimed at raising money for the new gym. The prize is a new 10-speed mountain bike, donated by Mr Gribble.

James Gribble and the gang want to win the competition so they enter Rabbit into the contest. Pete also enters after Rabbit claims he can beat anyone else who enters. When they return home that day, Bronson offers to coach Pete to help him win; later they secretly spy on the Gribble gang preparing Rabbit for the competition.

Unbeknown to Pete and his family, the remote control now has special powers due to the lightning strike. Pete presses the remote and accidentally pauses their cat Bad Smell before returning him to normal by touching the play button. Bronson and Linda fight over the remote control, which results in Linda being frozen before Pete presses play.

Pete and Linda secretly use the remote on Tony whilst he is welding some metal in his workshop. Faye visits and is annoyed that Tony won't speak to her. Tony accidentally cuts a secure line and a washing machine suspended above him falls down behind him accidentally pulling his pants down. Pete presses play and then repeat, resulting in Tony pulling his trousers up and down repeatedly before Linda hits play. Tony is at a loss to explain his behaviour to a bemused Faye.

Tony takes the kids to an Italian restaurant that evening where Gribble and the gang steal the remote control after they witness it putting Harold Gribble in reverse and eating his dinner backwards. On the school bus the next morning, Pete reveals that he has a secret weapon- a mirror- that will help him if Gribble attempts to use the remote on him. In class, Gribble uses the remote control during choir practice, first speeding up pupil Simpson until his trombone smokes and then putting Mr Snapper on fast forward. Pete tries to steal the remote back, but out on the playing field Gribble prepares to pause him; Pete uses his mirror to deflect the remote beam at Rabbit, freezing him on the spot. Later on Bronson overhears how Gribble and the gang will use the control to win the pig out.

Pete, Rabbit and two other competitors - "Bessie The Bottomless Pit" and "Tapeworm Tanya" are all contestants at the pig out. They must eat as many bowls as spaghetti in 10 minutes (which must be scraped clean) and then keep the spaghetti down without spewing for another 10 minutes after the competition is over, lest they be disqualified. Bessie and Tanya quickly dropout leaving a head on competition between Pete and Rabbit. James Gribble uses the remote on Rabbit to fast-forward him through the contest, eventually ending up winning with 27 bowls eaten.

The contest isn't over however as Rabbit is sick over the audience, despite James' best efforts to stop him spewing. With the entire audience covered in spaghetti, Pete takes the control back from Gribble Jr and presses the rewind button at Rabbit who screams no as the episode ends.

Cast[]

Notes[]

  • Based on the short story of the same name from Uncanny!
  • The general plot of the televised story is the same as the short story it is based on, with some minor differences. In the Uncanny! story, the prize is a trip to London and the protagonist is a boy called Matthew who wants to win the trip for his parents who are short of money. The main villain is a bully called Guts Garvey who forces the other kids at his school to not be friends with Matthew. The remote control is not struck by lightning, as it is in the televised version, but purchased with an odd-looking video machine by Matthew's father. Unlike the televised version, Matthew is temporarily frozen after trying to impress Guts with the remote, who then steals it and gives it to his friend Rabbit to help win the competition. The ending in both versions is the same.
  • The development of the final script required a considerable amount of drafting and re-drafting primarily due to Paul Jennings' inexperience as a scriptwriter, necessitating script editor Ebsen Storm to help make a number of changes from the original short story. The development of the whole episode was documented in the 1990 Round The Twist behind-the-scenes book published by Puffin books which includes the original storyline breakdown by Jennings.
  • The original storyline is closer to the Uncanny! short story - the remote is not hit by lightning but is brought home by Tony with the new video recorder. Linda and Bronson go off to cook tea whilst Pete plays with the remote. The scene with the fly is still included, but Bad Smell the cat is replaced by Shovel the dog. During their tea, Pete pauses Tony, Linda and Bronson before unfreezing them and decides to keep the remote a secret. During the next day, Pete goes into town to try and impress Fiona with the remote control and accidentally reverses a man eating his food in a cafe. The event is witnessed by Gribble and Rabbit who grab the remote and pause Pete on the pavement. Fiona tries to talk to Pete but storms off as he isn't moving and she thinks he is playing the fool. The pause effect wears off and Pete finds Linda who is riding a horse. Gribble and Rabbit are queuing for the footy and reverses the horse just after it has left some droppings on the road. Linda, Pete and the horse are then paused. In the final spaghetti pigout, the prize is a Honda Scramble bike and it is Gribble taking part whilst Rabbit has the remote in the audience.
  • Budget concerns necessitated removing the horse scene as there were concerns that it would tie up a second unit camera crew all day trying to follow it around. The scene with Tony pulling his pants down was written as a replacement. The majority of scenes where the remote was used required split-screen filming so that different elements could be composited together later on video cassette.
  • The effects-heavy episode required that each scene needed to be carefully storyboarded - the aforementioned 1990 behind-the-scenes book includes a storyboard of the final scene where Rabbit vomits the spaghetti up. Rabbit actor Stuart Atkin was not a fan of this final scene has he notes in the book- "Filming [...] was not the most enjoyable thing I have done. Eating bowl after bowl of cold, congealed spaghetti was not my idea of fun and I was glad when it was all over."

Gallery []

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