"Pranks for Nothing" is the third episode of Season 6 of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Plot[]
SPOILER: Plot details follow.
The Foster's house has a termite infestation and the pest control company fumigates the building with a noxious gas. Frankie and Mr. Herriman load all the friends onto the Foster's bus and Herriman explains the situation: Since the house will be uninhabitable for 24 hours on account of the extermination company getting rid of termites, the residents of Foster's have to stay at a hotel for the evening. Bloo is excited because he thinks it's a vacation, but Herriman clarifies that it is only for that night. The other friends aren't happy about being crammed together on the bus and are less happy when they hear that the hotel is 7 hours away.
Hours later, they arrive, and Bloo wants to hurry off the bus. Herriman explains to the residents that getting accommodations for so many imaginary friends was very expensive; As such, no one is allowed to eat any of the food in the room's refrigerators, order room service, or order pay-per-view movies. Bloo continues to whine, drowning out the second half of Herriman's speech. Everyone disembarks and heads upstairs to their rooms.
Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo are all sharing a room and getting ready to sleep. But Bloo barges in, wanting to do something fun in the hotel. When Wilt tried to explain to Bloo that he, Eduardo and Coco are worn out and they want to go to sleep and are only here for a night, but the ignorant Bloo doesn't care or understand of their needs or their feelings. He proposes they all stay awake with the free coffee they were provided. But Bloo chugs the whole pot and starts going crazy. In about one minute, Bloo breaks all of Herriman's imposed rules and buys a movie that was 49 dollars and eats all the stuff from the mini fridge that were super expensive as well as ordering a meal from room service., then aggressively pillow fights the other three friends. Coco has had enough, and she grabs the room's ice bucket and tells Bloo to fill the bucket, adding that the ice is free. Bloo runs off to fill it, but when he re-enters the door, a bucket filled with water falls onto his head. The other three friends laugh at him, saying that he needed that water to cool down. In the room below them, Herriman notices that the ceiling is leaking and then heads upstairs to investigate, immediately blaming Bloo for it. Bloo professes his innocence, but Herriman doesn't believe him, saying Wilt, Eduardo and Coco never do anything wrong unless Bloo makes them. Then at that moment, room service arrives with Bloo's order. Herriman is fed up and takes Bloo to a place where he won't cause trouble for the rest of their stay. As Herriman takes Bloo away, Bloo looks back at Wilt, Eduardo, and a smirking Coco. Bloo declares a prank war on Coco and her "cronies".
Mr. Herriman locks Bloo in the housekeeping closet with all the cleaning supplies. Bloo rants to himself about getting revenge on Coco while trying to get free from the door. Lucky for him, imaginary friends Frit and Frat open the door, searching for a bathroom. Bloo thanks them for letting him out, then enlists them as his new "cronies" for the prank war. He goes to the twin's room then draws up plans. Bloo explains what he wants to do and why, but the twins barely pay attention, then reveal that they don't know what pranks are. Bloo decides to show them how to prank, by launching his first attack on Coco, Wilt, and Eduardo.
Bloo and the twins go to the trio's room with a paper bag full of shaving cream. Bloo plans to put the opening of the bag under the door, and stomp on it, so whoever is on the other side gets covered in the shaving cream, but the trio retaliate with the same prank while Bloo is explaining. Bloo then explains his next idea: the classic fake pizza delivery call. While he explains it to the twins, a delivery man arrives at the door (twice) with big stacks of pizzas that Bloo now needs to pay for. Bloo tries to think of another prank, but the other team preemptively strikes with stinky cheese in the air vent.
Bloo figures that the other team is spying on them, so he tells Frit and Frat to stack tons of pancakes by the pool. While Coco watches, Bloo builds his "ultimate prank" machine. He sets it up outside of Coco's room, but when he knocks, Mr. Herriman answers it. Bloo leaps into the path of the machine and ends up tarring and feathering himself. Herriman glares at Bloo, who apologizes profusely. He cleans everything up, but seeing that Herriman is still angry, Bloo cleans more and more, all through the night. The sun rises and Bloo has cleaned and repaired everything in the hotel and parking lot, but Herriman still does not budge. Bloo clings to Herriman and begs for forgiveness, but makes Herriman fall over in the process.
It turns out, however, that "Herriman" was actually a bound and gagged Frit and Frat in a Herriman costume. Coco, Wilt, and Eduardo can only laugh at Bloo's misery. At that moment, Frankie arrives and tells everyone to get ready to leave. Bloo gets upset at this, and only gets more upset as Coco, Wilt, Eduardo, and even Frit and Frat laugh at how he cleaned the whole hotel. Bloo furiously chases Coco around the hotel, disrupting other events and patrons.
Eventually, Bloo corners Coco near the payphone and advances towards her, saying she's going to get what's coming to her. Coco braces herself, but Bloo starts applauding. He admits that she was the better prankster, and that she beat him fair and square. He offers his hand for her to shake, and she warily does, only to get a shock; Bloo has a joy buzzer in his hand. Bloo gloats about getting the last prank in and winning the prank war. Coco doesn't care and walks to the bus.
As the rest of the friends pile in, Bloo continues gloating, but as he takes his seat, he hears a farting noise; He sat on a whoopee cushion. Bloo then notices that Coco is the last to enter the bus and that she couldn't have planted the whoopee cushion, taking this to mean someone else was the mastermind behind the prank. Bloo shouts at everyone to stop laughing and reveal the mastermind, but all the friends continue to laugh, except Wilt, who merely smirks.
Spoilers end here.
Characters present[]
Speaking:
Bloo, Coco, Eduardo, Frankie Foster, Frit and Frat, Mr. Herriman, Wilt
Non-speaking:
Belly Bob Norton, Billy the Squid, Bloppy Pants, Boris the Florist, Burple Bear, Chief Hoseynose, Clambake, Dusty, Dyno, Fluffer Nutter, George Mucus, Hootin' Andy, Jackie Khones, Jimmy Shoes, Keystone Blop, Mabel Licorice, Madame Mustachio, Myopic Patootie, New Guy, One Eye Cy, Phineus B. Vurm, Pokey Toehair, Ringo Rango, Sloppy Moe, Sunset Junction, The Unknown Friend, Yogi Boo Boo
Trivia[]
- This is the only episode that Mac is neither featured nor mentioned in, making Bloo the only character to appear in every episode of the series.
- Despite the fact that the entire foster home went to the hotel, Madame Foster does not appear in this episode.
- This episode reveals that Bloo shouldn't be allowed to drink coffee, just like Mac isn't allowed to eat sugar. Bloo is just like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch as he and Stitch go crazy after having coffee.
- This episode marks the first appearances of Frit and Frat and the last appearance of Dyno.
Cultural references[]
- The final twist of the episode (where Wilt's revealed to be the true culprit) can be seen as a reference to The Usual Suspects, where the person anyone would least suspect turns out to be the true culprit.
- The carpet in the hotel is the same carpet seen in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, The Shining.