Jessicake Goes to the Small Mart

Jessicake Goes to the Small Mart is the first episode of the first season and the pilot special of Shopkins & Friends. It first aired in workprint form on January 3, 2019 and made its proper premiere on January 6, 2019.

The special was first developed in 2018 as a regular episode of the series, but as the series switched to a ten-minute episode format, the episode became a half-hour special that would take three years to complete.

## Plot Synopsis

Jessicake, Donatina and Bunny Bow are in their car driving to Small Mart. When they arrive, Bunny Bow exclaims that Small Mart is not bigger than she was expecting. Jessicake decided to go shopping.

When they got inside, they were greeted by Summer Peaches, the store manager. Summer Peaches welcomes them to Small Mart. Bunny Bow picks out a few items. After that, she decides to check out. Summer Peaches thanks her for shopping. They leave.

When they got home, Jessicake takes a shower, Bunny Bow watches TV, and Donatina makes supper. Later, they had Lasagna. Bunny Bow and Donatina decide to go to bed. Jessicake watches TV. Then she falls asleep too.

## Characters

(In order of Appearance)

* Jessicake
* Donatina
* Bunny Bow
* Summer Peaches
* Britney Bag (not named)
* Majestic Heels (not named)
* Luigi Lasagna (not named)
* Yvonne Scone (not named)

## Voice Cast

* Melissa Taverner - Jessicake
* Joel Hunter - Donatina
* Ryan Bartley - Bunny Bow
* Yilin Zhou - Summer Peaches

## Trivia

* The special was, for a time, intended to be released direct-to-home-video; however, constantly changing release dates pushed the special to make a YouTube debut instead.
* The special took three years to complete; the script was written between July and September 2018, with the July-written portions being done whilst on a Croatian holiday. The animation itself was produced in-and-out during Tyler's Grade 9 and 10 years of high school, with the majority of the work being completed in December and January 2019.
* The decision to bring on Ryan Bartley as Bunny Bow was one made towards the final stages of animation on the special; the original actress had been fired, and Tyler was unable to find a replacement that would fit. Seeing the opportunity for a guest spot on the special, he contacted Ryan, who agreed to record for the special after a deal was made.
* Bunny Bow says, "Small Mart wasn't as big as I was expecting!". This is most likely a reference to the Webseries.
* The "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" musical sequence was done during the final stages of production; the scene originally contained narration, but it was decided that a cover of the song would be better suited. Only the "I think I can, I THINK I can" line was retained. There was also another Bunny Bow line was cut from the scene: "Make way for the Small Mart Express!", originally written in for the "Run-Over" shot of the sequence.
* Serena Leo-Harper originally was supposed to have voiced Summer Peaches but due to time constraints Yilin Zhou voiced her instead.
* This is Yvonne Scone's only appearance with a face; following Jessicake the Building Shoppie, she was reverted to her original faceless look.
* Many changes occurred during the scriptwriting phase:
	+ A variety of scrapped shots for the intro, including:
		- A wide angle shot of the world.
		- An alternate version of this scene with Cliffstone Junction replacing Gridinia Bay Junction.
		- The car passing through a prototype Bluthsburg Freight Yard (as seen in the early teaser trailer/early intro). This was scrapped due to the uploader of the set raising concerns.
	+ Majestic Heels and Yvonne Scone having speaking roles, which were reduced to silent appearances in the special.
	+ Bunny Bow would have had her driver from Soeren Hermansen's earlier project, Heidi, but was scrapped as animation went underway.
	+ Jessicake would have had a driver
	+ A scene following the crash at Great Wolf Junction in which the signalman on duty raises the alarm to the Shopville Fire and Rescue Centre. A later version (cut due to the production schedule) would have humorously had Mr. Lazy as the signalman. This sequence has been reproduced for the upcoming Shopkins and Friends Presents: Jessicake Goes to the Small Mart DVD.
	+ Bunny Bow would have collected her breakdown train from a mountain station, rather than Gridinia Bay Junction.