New Year's Pete

New Year's Pete is the fifth television special spun off from The Adventures of Pete & Pete shorts, originally aired during SNICK on January 2, 1993. After The Adventures of Pete and Pete became its own series, the special was reaired as an episode of its first season.
==Synopsis==
At 11:31 PM on New Year's Eve, Little Pete is sulkingly riding his bike through town, narrating to himself that he realizes something all the adults in town don't - "New Year's resolutions are a joke." Casting his bike downhill, Little Pete reflects on the resolution he made at the start of the past year - "Change the world" - and the events that led to his failure to uphold that resolution.
At the start of the year, Little Pete believes that he would be able to fight evil and bring world peace with a Riley RetroFire jet pack, which costs $456.98. His first plan to raise that money is that he and Big Pete get their neighbors to pay them for inspecting for landmines in their front yards. This works well at first, thanks to them hiding landmines in the yards before asking their neighbors if they want the inspection. However, it soon comes to an end when Big Pete rushes to save Ellen from walking right on one of their landmines, blurting out in front of their latest customer that they'd booby-trapped the lawn.
Forced to abandon the landmine inspection gig, Little Pete goes back to earning money on his paper route. Fortunately, he gets Artie the Strongest Man in the World to assist him. After noticing how good Artie's aim is at throwing newspapers to the neighbors, Little Pete gets him to join his father's bowling team, Spanson Crackle, for their latest bowling match, which Little Pete bets his paper route earnings on. Again, this seems to work, thanks to Artie using a telepathic bowling ball manned by a hamster on a wheel. But just when he's about to bowl the last strike in a perfect game, a professional bowling scout (played by Vincent Pastore) signs Artie up for a professional bowling tour, costing Mr. Wrigley's team the match.
With his superhero having left town, Little Pete has to carry on with his paper route alone. One day in October, he suddenly gets into a stand-off with the local crossing guard, Frank Gulcher (in his first appearance), which goes on all night and into the next morning. After Little Pete tricks Frank into finally letting him pass by, he suddenly notices how lonely the guy is. Frank confides to Little Pete that, 11 years ago, he left his post for only a minute when a cat nearly got run over by a truck, and as a result, he vowed to never leave the crosswalk, not even for holidays. Little Pete offers to become a crossing guard himself so Frank can get some well-deserved rest. However, he begins thinking about his resolution again and, still seeking to earn the money for the jet pack, charges people $20 to cross the street. He finally manages to make enough money from this, but when one pedestrian tries to get out of it, Little Pete chases him down. When he comes back, Frank is disappointed in Little Pete abandoning his post and fires him. Little Pete takes this in stride, since he now has enough money for the jet pack. But when it finally arrives on December 19th, Little Pete is horrified to learn that the "jet pack" is actually just a leaf-blower.
Cutting back to the present, 11:58 PM on New Year's Eve, Little Pete resents that he ended up just like everyone else with their resolution, feeling betrayed by his brother, his superhero, and his own dream. Then he realizes that even if he couldn't make everyone's lives better, he could at least make things a little better for at least one person. Rushing downhill as everyone else is counting down to midnight, Little Pete finds Frank, still guarding the crosswalk, and wishes him a happy new year. As everyone is heard singing "Auld Lang Syne", Frank confides that he resolves to quit smoking (which he previously declared at the start of the previous year, but obviously hasn't been able to keep), while Little Pete still resolves to "change the world", saying he's got a whole year of opportunities to do so.
==Notes==
* This special and "Crisis in the Love Zone" are the only episodes narrated by Little Pete instead of Big Pete.
* It was long rumored that this episode contained a cameo by Hunter S. Thompson as a man Little Pete interacts with on the street. However, the man on the street was played by an extra with the name Hunter Thompson and is not the famous gonzo journalist.
* A clip from the episode was featured in a Snickers commercial, as part of their "Pete & Pete Snickers" campaign.
==Home video releases==
;DVD
* The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season One
==External links==
* Other Holiday Specials Wiki: 
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Category:Holiday productions