Helping Helps

Helping Helps
Season	1
Date	January 7, 2000 March 27, 2008 (YouTube) February 6, 2009 (Atom) June 16, 2013 (YouTube, HD)
Production number	103
Writer(s)	Warren Graff Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro
Director(s)	Rhode Montijo
Starring	Splendid The Flying Squirrel Giggles
Appearance(s)	Giggles' mom
Previous	House Warming
Next	Crazy Ant-ics

"Helping Helps", written as "HelpingHelps" in the Classics Remastered version, is the third episode of Season 1 of Happy Tree Friends. This episode is the first to introduce Splendid. This is the first episode where Giggles is depicted with a head marking, though her pop-up retains her "Spin Fun Knowin' Ya!" design. This addition to her design has become a part of her appearance since then. This episode marks the only appearance of Giggles' mom. This episode is the first Happy Tree Friends episode released in 2000.

Synopsis

Happy Tree Friends website and YouTube: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a flying squirrel?

Happy Tree Friends website (Giggles Episode Guide): Poor Giggles is limping along when she's nearly crushed and drowned in a tidal wave. Luckily Splendid the flying squirrel saves the day, but not without incident! This episode is the only time you meet Giggle's (sic) mom, one of the only adults in Happy Tree Friends. Do you know who the other adult character is?

Plot

Giggles, who has a leg injury, is limping along with her crutches when the nearby dam breaks, unleashing a large amount of water. Giggles turns toward the water and screams, which is heard by Splendid, who stops eating an acorn and flies off. Giggles tries to get to the other side to avoid the water. When it looks like she is not going to make it, Splendid swoops in just in time to save her. Giggles is happy to be rescued, but she is then decapitated by a tree branch that Splendid happens to be flying by. Splendid looks around in panic before picking up an acorn. He then rings the doorbell to Giggles' house. Giggles' mom opens the door, crying. Splendid shows her Giggles, whose head has been replaced with the acorn which has a crudely drawn face on it. Giggles' mom embraces her daughter and, after Splendid takes off, thanks him. The acorn replacing Giggles' head falls off, splattering blood on her mother's face.

Moral

"Don't forget to stop and smell the roses!"

Fates

Deaths

• Giggles is decapitated after Splendid flies past a tree branch.

Injuries

• Giggles has an unexplained leg injury in this episode.

Survival rate

• Amount of surviving main characters: 1
• Amount of dead main characters: 1
• Total rate: 50%

Destruction

• The dam breaks from a large amount of water.

Quick shot moment

• When Splendid starts flying towards Giggles to save her and a shot of the wave is shown, there is a brief shot of Splendid flying.

Animation errors

• The intro's pop-up bush disappears when the "Almost there..." text is displayed. This only applies to the original release and not the Classic Remastered version which does not display this text.
• Splendid's tail is not drawn during the scene where he spots the acorn.
• Splendid's skin flaps are not drawn when he lifts Giggles to show her to her mother.

Staff

Main article: List of Helping Helps staff

Rhode Montijo and Aubrey Ankrum created the episode while John Evershed was the executive producer.

Altered and deleted scenes

There are a few differences between the episode's storyboard and the final product.

• Originally, Giggles' mom would immediately welcome Giggles into her arms as soon as she opens the door.
• Splendid flying off after returning Giggles to her mother is not part of the storyboard.

• 

  A deleted scene showing Giggles' mom immediately welcoming Giggles into her arms.

Unrendered graphics

There are graphics placed outside the rendering area in the episode's SWF file.

• On the "Hang in there, Kids!" loading screen, aside from intro and credits graphics and an unused Lumpy pop-up, there is a vertical bar of doodles featuring Cuddles, Giggles, Lumpy, Petunia, Toothy, Flippy, Cub, Handy, Cro-Marmot, and Shifty. Flippy in particular was drawn with an early design that depicted him without his uniform and having a sling on his right arm.
• There is a scan of a wave sketch placed outside the rendering area during frames 154-184.
• The intro sequence has episode graphics placed, some animated, outside the rendering area. Presumably, they are loaded throughout the intro first to optimize loading times due to bandwidth limitations at the time.

• 

  Hidden doodles of some Happy Tree Friends, some not appearing in an episode yet.

• 

  A hidden scan of a wave sketch.

• 

  Frames 52-71 have the intro and credits graphics, an unused Lumpy pop-up, and hidden Happy Tree Friends doodles.

• 

  Frames 104-133 have backgrounds, two flowers, Splendid's body shapes, Splendid flying, and Giggles trying to escape.

• 

  Frames 154-184 have a scan of a wave sketch, three paper textures, unused Lumpy shapes, a tree crown, and shapes for Giggles, her mother, and Splendid.

• 

  Frames 283-315 have trees, the doorway to Giggles' house, logs, blood splatters, a closing iris, wave shapes, the dam, acorn and its crudely-drawn face, and the Mondo Mini Shows logo.

Gallery

• 

  Smaller version of the thumbnail from the official Happy Tree Friends website (pre-Atom)

• 

  Screenshot from the official website's Giggles Episode Guide

• 

  Screenshot from the official website's Giggles Episode Guide

• 

  Screenshot from the official website's Giggles Episode Guide

External links

• The episode on Mondo Media's website
• The episode on YouTube
• Remastered version on YouTube