Helping Helps

Helping Helps is an episode of the Happy Tree Friends internet series, and the third of the first season. This episode introduces Splendid, the superhero flying squirrel who does more harm than good. This is also the first episode that brings back a previously dead character.
==HTF Episode Description==
=== Happy Tree Friends website (pre-Atom) ===
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a flying squirrel?https://web.archive.org/web/20031203033239/http://happytreefriends.com:80/watch_episodes/index.html
=== Happy Tree Friends website (post-Atom) ===
Poor Giggles has a broken leg and is limping along when she's nearly crushed and drowned in a tidal wave caused by a dam breaking. Luckily, Splendid the flying squirrel saves the day, but not without incident! This episode is the only time you meet Giggles' mom, one of the only adults in Happy Tree Friends. Do you know who the other adult character is?https://web.archive.org/web/20061210011710/http://mondo.happytreefriends.com/about_the_show/guide/guide_3_helping.html
==Plot==
The episode begins with Giggles happily walking through the forest, with an unexplained injured leg and crutches. Suddenly, a water dam behind her breaks, and water is seen rushing toward her. Giggles starts screaming, and her cries are heard by a superhero flying squirrel named Splendid, who then puts down the acorn he was eating and immediately zooms off to save her.
We cut back to Giggles, who is seen desperately trying to outrun the tsunami of water. Splendid tries his hardest to reach Giggles in time. With all hope lost and the tsunami reaching her, a tear runs down Giggles' eye as her death is just mere seconds away. But at the last second, Splendid swoops in and snatches Giggles just before the water crashes down.
Having been saved, Giggles begins cheering over her survival, satisfying Splendid. Unfortunately, he flies too close to a tree, and a protruding branch beheads Giggles. With blood spewing out of Giggles' dead body, Splendid begins panicking. When he spots an acorn lying next to a tree, he gets an idea.
He picks up the acorn and rings the doorbell to Giggles' house. The person who opens the door is Giggles' mother, who is seen crying at the supposed death of her daughter from the tsunami. When she opens her eyes after drying them off, she's suddenly surprised and joyful. Splendid then shows the distraught mother Giggles' dead body with the acorn he found earlier on the neck. On the acorn is a poorly drawn face, representing Giggles' face. The mother, not noticing anything, picks up the Giggles' dead body and hugs it. Splendid then gives a salute to a job well done. As he flies off, Giggles' mom bids farewell, and Giggles' "head" falls off, splattering blood on the mother, who is still unaware of her daughter's death.
===Moral===
"Don't forget to stop and smell the roses!"
==Deaths==
*Giggles dies when Splendid flies too close to a tree branch, decapitating her.
==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==
*A dam breaks due to a large amount of water.
==Goofs==
#Giggles doesn't have her head marking or buckteeth in the opening credits, but they appear in the episode (this occurs in every Season 1 episode Giggles stars in).
#In the opening credits, the tree leaves disappear when the "Almost There…" text shows up.
#Giggles' bandaged leg changes several times and disappears when she's being flown away (although her other leg may be behind Splendid).
#When Giggles is shown from the back (when the flood finally approaches her), her marking isn't visible from the back. This has happened with several HTF characters with markings on their head (like Petunia and Nutty) and only occurs in early internet episodes.
#Before Giggles' death, the Pac-Man-shaped pupil on Giggles' right eye is facing the wrong way.
#Splendid's tail and stomach marking are missing when he spots the acorn he uses for Giggles' replacement head.
#When Splendid holds up Giggles, his patagium disappears.
#When Splendid saves Giggles, She looks a bit smaller compared to him.
#When Giggles' Mom is shown crying, one part of her arm switches colors for a very short time.
#When Giggles' "head" falls off, the blood on her mom is red, but the blood on the ground is reddish-orange.
#When the "Almost There" text appears, the bush disappears. This goof was only in the original version.
#In the Classics Remastered version, the word "Squirrel" is not kerned as it was in the original, leaving a gap between the Q and the U.
==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.
Note: This is fixed in the Classics Remastered versions from YouTube and Mondomedia.com.
==References==
Category:Internet Episodes
Category:Internet Season 1
Category:Episodes
Category:2000 Episodes
Category:Regular Episodes
Category:Episodes Starring Splendid
Category:Episodes Starring Giggles
Category:Episodes With No Debatable Deaths
Category:Episodes With Titles That Have No Puns or References
Category:50% Survival
Category:Episodes written by Warren Graff
Category:Episodes written by Rhode Montijo
Category:Episodes written by Kenn Navarro
Category:Episodes directed by Rhode Montijo
Category:Disaster Episodes
Category:Character Debut Episodes
Category:No Appearances