Pirate

**Pirate** is the second *TUGS: The Bigg City Chronicles* story in the SeventyVerse.

## Plot

Near the end of a long hard day, Ten Cents got one more job to do: taking engineering parts to Scuttlebutt Pete. Zip and Zug were on the same job, and the three switchers get into an argument. Ultimately, the Z-Stacks switchers leave and Ten Cents leaves his barge near the old quay. He thinks he sees something moving, and guesses if it were Sunshine or Big Mac playing a trick on him. However, when Sunshine approaches from another direction, Ten Cents believes he's just tired. Grampus comes up and the three friends say 'goodnight'. Unknown to the trio, a shadowy figure came in and stole the barge.

The next morning, Zip and Zug accuse Ten Cents of stealing it and he accuses them of hiding the barge to wound him up. The three switchers argue, when Captain Star gets their attention through the megaphone. Zip and Zug leave, laughing, and Captain Star admits he was just as confused as Ten Cents was. The client complained, and Ten Cents explains what happened. Captain Star thankfully believes Ten Cents and tells him to be on the lookout for strange activity.

Out in the Estuary, Big Mac and O.J. were about to help a sailing ship when Top Hat came up to the duo. He tells them about a pirate he saw, stealing engineering parts and a barge from the fire station. Unfortunately, Big Mac and O.J. don't believe Top Hat's claims and take off after the sailing ship. Top Hat was left fuming.

Ten Cents arrived and saw Scuttlebutt Pete. Unfortunately for him, Scuttlebutt has spread rumours to the point where Grampus knows Ten Cents has lost the barge. Sunshine comes up and claims that rumours are Scuttlebutt's speciality. Zebedee and Zak then make jabs at Ten Cents, and to make matters worse, Ten Cents has more work with the Z-Stacks. He delivered an oil barge to Ballentine's, and the two harbour tugs continue to mock Ten Cents for being a crook. Thankfully, Grampus had been told by Top Hat about his 'pirate', and decides to investigate the matter.

Because the Bridge Cafe had given Grampus another sleepless night, he was able to venture out to investigate. Grampus had been able to find Top Hat's pirate and another of Ten Cents' barges. He tries to give chase, but looses the thief in the mist.

The next morning, all 12 tugs from both fleets are gathered at the Star Dock by both Captain Star and Captain Zero. Zorran, Zip and Zug accuse Ten Cents of stealing barges again, but Hercules, Big Mac and Warrior all defend their colleague. Captain Zero explains the plan: barges are rigged with flares so they'll go off at the slightest touch, never mind stolen. The tugs are then put into pairs for the operation.

Grampus meanwhile, is still looking for the thief. He managed to find him, but was shocked to hear that two green light tugs named Flotsam and Jetsam had been holding O'Malley for ransom in order to get Sea Rogue to steal barges. O'Malley begs Sea Rogue to not do it anymore, but Sea Rogue insists this will be the last night. Grampus realises just how serious this is and leaves to get help.

Meanwhile, the tugs are out in their assigned pairs. O.J. and Hercules are working well together, and Top Hat and Zebedee are doing surprisingly well as well. However, Zorran was less than pleased to be paired up with Warrior, who didn't know what tactical and strategic meant. Big Mac and Zak were also displeased about being paired together, as Big Mac was still cross with Zak for pushing Sunshine.

Zip and Zug were also partnered together for the stakeout, and Zip is terrified of being up front. Zug insists she should, but Zip backs up and decides to give Zug a fright. Zug demands Zip get back to her post and wait.

The last pair was Ten Cents and Sunshine. The bigger switcher was saddened that he couldn't prove who really did it, but Sunshine is sure they'll catch the thief. Ten Cents wants the pirate to pay for what they've done, when Grampus arrives. He explains he saw the stolen barges as well as Sea Rogue and O'Malley - Sunshine's friends from Up River. There was no time to alert the others, so the trio decide to get to Sea Rogue on their own. Zip and Zug unfortunately see the trio move past, and they slip out after them.

Flotsam and Jetsam started muffling bell bouys and lightships (including Lillie) so no one could see their escape. Ten Cents, Sunshine and Grampus then lay their trap for Sea Rogue. When he started slipping out, the trio bumped Sea Rogue. He's scared at first, but explains the situation upon seeing Sunshine in the group. With Sea Rogue in the rescue party, the four friends hide.

Zip and Zug come out and dive into the warehouse. They manage to find the missing barges, but Flotsam and Jetsam chase them out. Ten Cents, Sunshine and Sea Rogue get ready to spring their trap, while Grampus goes in to save O'Malley. Top Hat and Zebedee overhear screaming, so Top Hat decides to check out the situation while Zebedee stays where he is. Ten Cents, Sunshine and Sea Rogue capture Flotsam and Jetsam. Top Hat then arrives and is most surprised to discover Sea Rogue is one of the good guys. Ten Cents decides to explain.

Zorran and Warrior were very disgruntled that their stakeout was all for naught, but Top Hat tells them that the bad guys were apprehended. Zorran snarks that Top Hat would be 'humble' in comparison, and with there being no use for the flare anymore, Warrior decides to push it out of the way. Unfortunately, it's still live, and Warrior, Top Hat and Zorran get singed.

In the morning, Top Hat and Warrior lead the villains away. Sea Rogue and O'Malley decided to get back to their home Up River, and Ten Cents is sad to see them go. Sunshine thinks they may help out at Bigg City one day. Hercules arrives and congratulates Ten Cents on a job well done and that Captain Star is also proud of him. He then gives credit to Sunshine and Grampus for helping him. Grampus goes off to get some rest and Hercules also departs. Ten Cents and Sunshine go up to Zip and Zug and 'thank' them for their 'help'. Then, Zug bumps into the barge, and the two Z-Stack switchers race away despite 'not being scared'. Ten Cents and Sunshine have a good laugh. Flotsam and Jetsam are revealed to be given the Final Firing for their crimes.

## Differences between the 15 minute/20 minute version and the SeventyVerse

* The extended banter with Zip, Zug and Ten Cents is shown ala the twenty minute cut, including "The Shining" reference.
* Ten Cents says "I'm hearing things" per the 20 minute version.
* The 20 minute version of Ten Cents, Zip and Zug's argument the following morning is used.
* Captain Star believes Ten Cents right away and is just as confused as him. He asks Ten Cents if anyone saw him that night, and Ten Cents says Sunshine did. Captain Star also tells Ten Cents to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. He also suspects Zip and Zug might have done something, or there is some piracy involved.
* There is a subplot woven in from the *Salty's Lighthouse* episode *Dream On*, in which Top Hat saw Sea Rogue stealing barges, but Big Mac and O.J. dismiss the story as a dream. Grampus decides to investigate for him as well as Ten Cents' barges situation.
* Instead of being sent to do dredger detail with Scuttlebutt Pete, Ten Cents is simply passing by him when he brings up the rumour about the barge. Because Captain Star believes Ten Cents, he doesn't punish him.
* The confrontation between Ten Cents, Zebedee and Zak is per the 20 minute cut.
* The narration from the 15 minute cut "Grampus submerged fast to avoid being rammed and surfaced again in time to see it was the barge thief!" wasn't used. However, the extended clip of barges going missing ala the 20 minute cut was used.
* The 20 minute clip from the Star/Z-Stack joint briefing was used.
	+ Top Hat's line is changed from "I say, what is this all about? Star Fleet and Z Fleet together? Whatever next?" to "I say, what is this all about? Star Fleet and Z-Stacks together? Whatever next?"
	+ There is an extra bit of dialogue from Hercules (who is present in this version), saying that "my little brother would do no such thing!"
	+ Zorran's line is changed from "Ten Cents' barge is the only ones gone." to "If we're looking for suspects, I'm pointing the figure at Ten Cents! His barge was the first to go missing!"
	+ Warrior's line is changed from "Yeah! Watch it, see!" to "Yeah! Watch it, you two!"
	+ Captain Star's line is changed from both the 20 minute cut ("I said silence! Captain Zero and me have had a meeting. Missing barges is serious, we’re going to get to the bottom of it, understand? Captain Zero.") and the 15 minute cut ("Quiet! We've decided to set a trap! Captain Zero.") to this: "Silence! This bickering isn't helping anyone. Now, Captain Zero and I have had a meeting. Missing barges is serious, we've got to get to the bottom of it, and the best way to do that is working together. Captain Zero, I'll leave it to you to lay out our course of action."
	+ After Captain Star says that the pairs will be maintaining silence, he lists off all the pairs before saying "Keep your eyes open.". In the 20 minute cut, Top Hat implied to the audience that the tugs didn't know who they were going to be partnered with until that night.
* The Old Man is called O'Malley, and the green eyed tugs are Floatsem and Jetsem.
* All the tugs are shown on the stakeout.
	+ As well as Ten Cents/Sunshine and Zip/Zug from the real episode, we are given Hercules/O.J. (who weren't present in the actual episode aside from Hercules in the 20 minute version) and Big Mac/Zak.
	+ Instead of Top Hat/Warrior, Top Hat is put with Zebedee and Warrior with Zorran. This most likely means in the real episode (according to the writers at least), Zorran and Zebedee would have been paired together.
	+ Warrior doesn't bump into a buoy in this version.
* Some of Top Hat and Warrior's banter is given to Top Hat and Zebedee, as well as Hercules and O.J.. There's also another bit of Hercules wanting to prove Ten Cents' innocence.
* Zip and Zug's scene was moved to take place before Ten Cents' and Sunshine's scene.
	+ Zip and Zug also have banter ala the 20 minute version.
	+ Ten Cents, Sunshine and Grampus talk about their plan to catch the thieves is spliced together with their scene from earlier in the episode.
* Ten Cents' line "I don't care about them. It's our gang. They can't be sure it's not me." is dropped. This line is even more jarring in the actual episode because Big Mac and Warrior defended Ten Cents in the 20 minute cut.
* Sunshine knows both Sea Rogue and O'Malley in this version. In the actual episode, Sunshine didn't know who they were.
* In the original episode, Zug suspects it's just Ten Cents up to something and shouldn't be trusted. In this take, he suspects Sunshine is Ten Cents' accomplice.
* The bellbouy spoke in the original episode. He doesn't here. Flotsam speaks instead, saying "One more run tonight, and Sea Rogue will steal all he can steal and then it's goodbye, Bigg City Port!"
* The dialogue from the 20 minute cut when the group are about to spring their trap on Sea Rogue is used.
* As well as Sunshine wishing she was back working Up River, she also wishes Sea Rogue and O'Malley were there and not in this mess.
* Sea Rogue has an extra line "Sunshine! This isn't what you think!"
* Zug says "This can't be far," in the SeventyVerse version, not "Ten Cents can't be far". It's possibly a goof from the writers.
* Before Grampus dives underwater to save O'Malley, he says "alright, Ten Cents."
* The dialogue of Zip and Zug going in the warehouse is from the 20 minute cut.
* Ten Cents' "Right, now get ready to spring the trap when I say." is from the 20 minute cut.
* The rescue scene of O'Malley and the scene with Zip and Zug running away from Flotsam and Jetsam is per the 20 minute cut order.
* Top Hat leaves his post with Zebedee to go and check out what's happening.
* The dialogue of Ten Cents, Sunshine and Sea Rogue trapping Flotsam and Jetsam happens per the 20 minute version.
* The line "The tugs and Sea Rogue came hard at the villains from all sides. They were surrounded." from the 15 minute version wasn't used.
* When Top Hat arrives, he sees Sea Rogue and realizes he was the pirate he saw. However, Sunshine and Ten Cents explains he's one of the good guys.
* Warrior and Zorran are disappointed they didn't see anything, then Top Hat explains exactly what happened. Zorran snarkily retorts that if Top Hat caught Flotsam and Jetsam, he'd be 'modest' about it.
* Instead of accidentally bumping the flare, Warrior tries to move it out of the way, to which Zorran and Top Hat protest.
* Ten Cents' line "Don't bump em too hard, Warrior, they might set off a flare too," is used from the 20 minute cut.
* After Grampus says "nonsense, you're no pirate", Sea Rogue remarks he was joking.
* After Ten Cents says he's sad to see Sea Rogue and O'Malley go, Sunshine suggests they may see them again if they need help, to which Ten Cents brightens up a bit.
* When Hercules tells Ten Cents that Captain Star is proud of him, the ocean-going tug says he's proud of Ten Cents too.
* Ten Cents' line "Zip and Zug, I want a word with them" is changed to "Hey, Sunshine, what do you say we have a word with those two?"
* The ending lines are a bit different. In the 20 minute cut, Sunshine says "They move pretty fast when they're not scared.", while in this version, she says "For tugs who aren't scared, they move pretty fast.". In the 15 minute cut, it's Ten Cents who says "they move pretty fast when they're not scared", while Sunshine gets Ten Cents' line of "they certainly do."
* It's revealed Sea Rogue got pardoned by the authorities as he was protecting O'Malley, while Flotsam and Jetsam were given the Final Firing. The villains' fate in the real episode was unknown.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Top Hat
* Warrior
* Sunshine
* Grampus
* Captain Zero
* Zorran
* Zebedee
* Zak
* Zug
* Zip
* Sea Rogue
* Scuttlebutt Pete
* O'Malley
* Flotsam and Jetsam
* Philbert (does not speak)
* Lillie Lightship (does not speak)

## Locations

* Bigg City Port
	+ Star Dock
	+ Zero Dock
	+ The Bridge
	+ The Old Docks
	+ Bridge Café
	+ Ballantine's
	+ Lucky's Yard
	+ The Seaplane Hangar
	+ The Munitions Factory

## Voice Cast

### Official

* Simon Nash as Ten Cents
* Sean Barrett as Big Mac, Hercules, Zebedee, Captain Zero, and Sea Rogue
* Ian James Corlett as O.J.
* Shaun Prendergast as Zak
* Chris Tulloch as Zorran
* John Baddeley as Top Hat and Jetsam
* Nigel Anthony as Zug
* Lee Cornes as Grampus
* Paul Dobson as Flotsam

### Fan chosen

* Peter Dickson as Captain Star
* Jeff Bennett as Warrior
* Michelle Creber as Sunshine
* Tara Strong as Zip
* Scott McCord as Scuttlebutt Pete
* Kevin Kline as O'Malley

## Trivia

* TobyandMavisforever is thinking of writing out the episode with Captain Star still not believing Ten Cents per the original, but with Captain Lucky giving Ten Cents assurance and her scolding Captain Star for believing a clients word over his own Star Tug.
* The reason why Captain Zero paired up Zorran and Zak with Warrior and Big Mac respectively is because he was still cross at them for losing the White Star contract in the previous episode. As for Zebedee and Top Hat, they were the last tugs left.
* O.J. doesn't appear in the real episode at all, but he does appear in the rewrite.
* This is the first TUGS episodes to take material from *Salty's Lighthouse* besides genderflipping Sunshine.