The First Cyber Tail (episode)

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*The First Cyber Tail* is the fourth 11 minute episode of the animated series, *Twipsy*.

## Synopsis

*Twipsy and Champ are traveling in cyberspace. But even in this hyperactive electro-cosmos, Champ is overcome by fatigue, and goes to sleep on the Information Highway. Mr Neat and his Tidy Team find her. As they don't know who or what Champ really is, they think they've discovered a virus, and take her off to the Cyberdump.*

## Plot

### Header

**Spoiler Alert!**

This is a detailed explanation of the episode as it follows. *If you have not seen the episode as of yet, we advise you to tread carefully.*

In transit to cyberspace, Twipsy announces to Champ that they are about to arrive in his home: cyberspace. Champ begins to react in fear, but Twipsy reassures that there is nothing that would hurt Champ, not even fleas.

### Main

Dr. Walker and husband Stan Walker are watching the news - the news stories appear to be mundane, when they come across a news story of interest, about how a team of scientists managed to transport a dog from the real world to cyberspace. Instantly recognising it's their dog, Champ, they call a family meeting, to ask their two children where their dog Champ is. Lissie speculates she may have met another dog (Fifi the poodle) down the street, before heading off to attempt to find Champ.

Meanwhile in cyberspace, Twipsy is showing Champ the many areas of interest – for instance, his favourite place, the Gameland arcade centre. However, Champ isn't interested in games, so Twipsy takes her elsewhere. Next, he takes her to the Data Basement, however Champ gets spooked by the Safeguards, and reacts badly to them. Lastly, he offers her to travel down the Alley Oops cyberhighway, but Champ pulls over to the kerb and falls asleep, much to Twipsy's worry. Twipsy tries to get her to wake up, but to no avail. Left with no choice, he decides she should stay put, while Twipsy sets off to deliver some football game scores to the Russian Network.

Back in the real world, Nick and Lissie try to come up with another excuse to hide Champ's location - perhaps she fell asleep at the Stuarts' and couldn't budge? However Nick mentions, what if Champ hasn't returned by tomorrow? Lissie decides they should ask Albert.

In this case, Albert sends Twipsy an email requesting he send back Champ as soon as possible, and that the Print-O-Scan will remain on for that possibility. Although he is confident that all emails are sent through the internet and thus will reach the destination, Albert also questions why the Walkers want their dog back... "She's vicious, she's scary," Albert mentions, albeit comically.

In cyberspace, however, while Twipsy completes his delivery run, little does he know that Mr Neat and the Tidy Team crew have encountered Champ on the cyberhighway. Just as they inspect her, wondering if she is infotrash or a dirty dustball (or even a stray data sector), they confuse her with some sort of infectious virus, in which they manage to bag her up and carry her away.

At the Walkers' residence, Nick worries that their lives won't be the same without Champ; in fact, Champ had been in the family long before Lissie was born – Lissie considers Champ as her big sister. While Albert suggests getting another dog (considering Champ's senior age, poor mobility, lack of teeth, terrible dog breath, and her barks being only squeaks), Lissie says it's not possible. Just as Albert makes mention of there being no "fresh air" in cyberspace (since Champ isn't an outdoor dog), Stan breaks into the conversation, ready for a jog and offering any of the children a jog with him, to even coax Champ to follow them home. Nick says they can't, as they have placed Champ "...in the shower" for a science project on showering as a grooming technique\* and its effect on dogs. Stan goes with this idea and sets off on his own.

Back in cyberspace, as Twipsy frantically looks for Champ as she's gone missing, another fellow Cybermessenger (assumed Bip) turns up with an email message addressed to him. Twipsy reads the message, and then realises that's Champ's return is urgent. Twipsy notices the Cybermessenger recognises Champ, and his reply: "This isn't the Dark Ages, news travels fast nowadays, especially around here!" He also adds that he picked up a report from Mr. Know-it-All on W-NET, about Mr Neat and the crew having mistaken Champ for a computer virus, and sending her off to the cyberdump.

Fortunately, Albert has sent Nick and Lissie to cyberspace to meet up with Twipsy to carry out the rescue operation; of course as Albert takes a walk outside and meets Stan Walker on a jog, who asks where Lissie and Nick have been, Albert mentions they're "taking out the trash" for him. At he same time, the cyberdump is inhabited by the Obliterator Beasts, Twipsy camouflages the siblings in fragmented infotrash to blend in with the surroundings, and thus get Champ to safety. The siblings have managed to climb a trash mound to reach and successfully pick up Champ from harm; however, one wrong step later, the trio slip and land on the conveyor leading to the Obliterator... which they successfully escape by running in the opposite direction of the conveyor, and fortunately to safety. As they near Twipsy for a "welcome back" hug, Twipsy offers the siblings if they could tour around cyberspace for a while. Nick accepts a "quick around the world" tour, as long as they arrive home in the real world for dinner.

## Quotes

*(Champ whimpers in response)*
Twipsy: (announcing to Champ) Albert's scanner worked! It's amazing! Get ready, Champ, we're on our way to *cyberspace!*
*(Champ begins to react in fear)*
Twipsy: Calm down, Champ! There's nothing to be afraid of in cyberspace. Not even fleas!

## Observations

* The title of the episode is meant to be a wordplay element on the word, "tail".

## References

1. ↑ Amazon. 2015. Amazon.com: Twipsy - Season 1, Episode 4 "The First Cyber Tail" [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LJJAC04/ref=dv\_dp\_ep4. [Accessed 16 April 2015].

**English**