Week 6 Synopses
Note: This week your President is on vacation, and thus is limited by lacks of time and of the resources generally at his disposal. Thus these synopses will be written in great haste with no fact-checking, and while they will convey the general idea of last week’s events they make no claim whatsoever to accuracy. Your normal neurotically complete service will resume next week…
Episodes 11 and 12 Synopses:
Episode 11 (“Pearbird and the Shooting Star”) begins as the inhabitants of Veggietown survey a particularly beautiful meteor shower—actually, it’s a shooting star shower, “stars” (as everyone knows) being flattish gold pointy objects of perhaps half a foot in diameter. A bunch of the vegitanimals climb a nearby hill to survey the lovely sight, including Pearbird. (Pearbird never talks, but he does make odd sploodgy noises whenever he walks. He also has a strange habit of hovering perhaps a foot off the ground and turning in slow circles when he’s happy.) Unfortunately Pearbird’s made the wrong decision this night: a falling star conks him on the head and raises a nasty (and improbably-shaped) welt. When Dogtato-kun asks him if he’s OK, Pearbird goes nuts, launching into a long and only partially coherent tirade about how he feels fine if he’s not thinking about it but they’ve made him think about it so it’s really there fault that the universe is so cold and uncaring and aren’t gyroscopes nice. Everyone is surprised at Pearbird’s sudden transformation, and the next day it’s still gotten no better: he runs around Veggietown, babbling nonstop and chasing the terrified citizens around. Dogtato-kun and the rest determine that something must be done, and they ask Cucumbird to help them wiht the magic of the beanbirds. With their cute and star-shaped-flowery charms, the Beanbirds cause Pearbird to grow an enormous flower out of his head that breaks through the cloud layer, soars past the moon, and disturbs a big pile of stars. The stars fall and bury Pearbird, and the last one conks him on the head. The welt falls off (! note how judiciously I’m avoiding comments like, “this is really wierd”) and Pearbird immediately starts hovering in midair, turning slow circles. Croconion joyfully says something obscure, and the episode ends in a festive mood.
Episode 12 (“The Appearance of the Black Beanbirds”) introduces a new and terrible threat to the security of Veggietown. One day as Cucumbird is cheerfully helping the beanbirds out of their pod, a wind kicks up and blows the pod out of the tree. On the ground it transforms into a black beanpod, and out come the dreadful Black Beanbirds, who looks a lot like their green cousins but have a mysterious power: they trample over Croconion, who immediately starts moaning about how life is not worth living and he may as well keel over and die. When they touch Eggplooch, the normally jubilant canine suddenly realizes that his whole life is meaningless: what is the purpose of spinning around in circles, anyway? The same thing happens to Boartato, with the result that he lies on his back and states that it’s purposeless to run, since there’s nowhere to go. When poor Hedgetato-chan gets hit by the Black Beanbirds, she realizes that her love is hopeless: she’s not good enough for Dogtato-kun. She’s not good enough for anyone. She’ll just go off somewhere and cry, until finally the call of a crow saves her… I’m sorry, I seem to be drifting into the wrong series. Anyway, Cucumbird warns Dogtato-kun as the Black Beanbirds approach that these new creatures have the same kind of powers as their brethren, but really bad personalities—with the result that they suck happiness away from people instead of spreading it. The Black Beanbirds have developed into an army by this point, marching relentlessly and relentlessly marching upon all of Veggietown’s cheerful folk. But fortunately, just when Cucumbird and Dogtato-kun are backed into a corner and the end seems certain, the pod changes its color back and a rescue force of normal Beanbirds marches out and, in an astonishing battle of pyrotechnical brilliance that must be seen to be believed, defeat their dark nemeses! Veggietown has been saved, but as Croconion warns us: the line dividing happiness and unhappiness is razor-thin. Beware!