Barbecue Story (misspelled as Barbeque Story in the title card) is the first segment of the second episode of season 1, and the second Astroblast segment overall.
Characters Present[]
- Halley
- Jet
- Sputnik
- Comet
- Venus
- Bruce
- Bull Dog
- Olivia
- Matthew
- Ben
- Boris
- Matt
- Chas (cameo)
- Luke
- Caroline
Summary[]
Halley has received her favorite toy in the whole world -- a ball. Sputnik, always looking to spoil the babies' fun, takes the ball and tosses it into the neighbors' yard, resulting in the babies risking life and limb looking for it.
- - Description from Sprout.
Plot[]
It's the 4th of July and the Vivian's have invited their family and friends over for a barbeque! Halley tries to eat a beetle she picked off of Bruce (who is begging furiously for the turkey burgers Matthew is currently grilling), but Olivia stops him in time and puts the beetle on the ground before putting him in the outdoor playpen with the rest of the babies. In the playpen, Halley suggests they play with her brand new ball, which impresses his friends. Unfortunately, Sputnik takes the ball and kicks it over the fence when none of the grown-ups are looking!
Naturally, Halley begins to cry, and Olivia rushes over to comfort her. While she is holding her, Halley can see over the fence, and locates her ball. Halley stops crying and Olivia puts her back in the playpen. Comet and Venus ask why she stopped crying and point out she could've gotten anything she wanted if she'd continued to cry. Halley says she saw her ball, and says they're going to break out and go into the next yard to retrieve it because "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do!" The effect is spoiled, however, because her bottom slips and nearly exposes her in front of her friends.
The babies break out of the playpen and slip into the next yard through a loose board, where there is fancier landscaping than the Vivian's backyard. The four of them split up and explore the yard separately to search for the ball, though without success. When Jet gets his head stuck in a log the other three pull him out. Jet, frustrated, rants at Halley who then finds her ball! It turns out that the ball is in yet another yard, this one barren save for an old dog house and is blocked off by a chain linked fence.
The Grinner twins help Halley and Jet over the fence and argue over which of them goes next. Halley tells them to wait there, and walks farther into the yard to retrieve her ball. What none of them realize is a big, vicious bulldog occupies the dog house, and becomes very angry when he sees Halley in his yard! Just as Halley grabs her ball, the bulldog comes out of the dog house and charges at little Halley! Fortunately for Halley and Jet, the dog is chained to the dog house and they're just out of reach. Unfortunately the dog continues to charge and starts to pull the dog house loose, gradually coming closer to the babies.
Comet and Venus, horrified, run back towards the Vivian's backyard and cling to Caroline's legs in terror. At this time the grown-ups finally notice the babies got out of the playpen and that Halley and Jet are still missing. As the grown-ups search the backyard, the bulldog comes closer and Halley finally begins to scream.
None of the adults hear the scream, but Bruce, who was on the verge of getting an unattended turkey burger, does. Bruce abandons the burgers and leaps into action to save Halley! As Bruce scrambles to get over the fence he gets his head caught in one of the large Tiki head decorations the Vivian's set up for the occasion. Bruce dashes through the next yard and leaps the chain linked fence, putting himself between the babies and the bulldog. Luckily, the bulldog finds Tiki-head Bruce terrifying and retreats. Halley and Jet ride Bruce back to their yard, where the grown-ups are relieved to find them safe. However, Matthew left the burgers unattended too long, and now they're all burnt to a crisp!
The scene changes to nighttime. Everyone is gathered on a hill behind the Vivian's back yard, watching nearby fireworks light up the night sky. As a reward for his heroism, Matthew gives Bruce the burnt burgers. While Bruce eats, Halley notices another beetle on Bruce. This time, when she plucks the beetle off, she puts it on the ground instead of attempting to eat it. Then Halley gives her furry hero a hug as she watches the fireworks with her parents and friends (and her ball).
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode to take place outside during the night time (though it only takes place outside at night during the last few seconds of the episode).
- This episode, along with Waiter, There's a Baby in My Soup has the title card sequence shortened, that only lasts around 2/3 seconds. These are the only two episodes to have this happen to them.
- This is one of the few episodes to briefly show Sputnik wearing a diaper.
- Halley hides her signature screwdriver in the pouch of a stuffed kangaroo.
- While Matthew is filming the party, three unknown characters are seen talking. They are never seen again in, or after, the episode.
- One of these characters is a woman with orange hair and glasses talking to Robert, due to her similarities and resemblance to Robert and Jet, many people have interpreted this woman as an early design for Jet's mother.
- Jet will have a similar rant in Moose Country.
- Future episodes show that the other two backyards the babies visit would have been those of the Grinner's and the Mender's. In this episode, however, they clearly belong to very different neighbors.
- The episode takes place on the 4th of July, which would make this the first Astroblast episode set on a holiday.
- This episode is also known as "Bar-B-Q".
- This is the first episode Robert appears in, making him the final member of the original cast to debut in the first season. (Lillian and the Jones' all debuted in the second season.)
- Although Robert debuted in this episode, he only had a single line ("Jet!") and did not say it on screen. Robert would not begin to have a greater role in the series until Touchdown Halley, which was near the end of the first season.
- This is the first episode to feature Halley's famous ball, which appears frequently throughout the entire series.
- The ball is similar to the ones in Pixar and Blues Clues.
- This is the first of many episodes that involve Matthew's grilling something that inevitably gets ruined. Other such episodes include Tie My Shoes and Discover America.
- Halley's famous line "A baby's gotta do, what a baby's gotta do" is used in the Remixalodeon song on The Splat.