Band Together

**"End of my tether, don't say that word!" — Ten and Three**
Areas of this article contain spoilers about **Band Together**. Please proceed with caution.
Read at your own risk.

### Writer

Max Allen; Ciaran Murtagh & Andrew Barnett Jones (Head Writers)

### Director

Simon Taylor

**Band Together** is the third special episode of Learningblocks. This is the first Alphablocks special and the 92nd Alphablocks episode overall.

## Synopsis

*The Alphablocks are back on the road in a special alphabetical adventure from A to Z. Can they get the band back together in time for the big concert?*

## Plot

The episode starts at A, B, and C's houses. A makes her sound; an apple falls onto her head. After that, B wakes up and sings with her bass guitar. Then C comes, puts ice into her beverage; she cracks a larger cube into 27 pieces by making her sound. B reminds her friends about the Big Bop; C brings up the song contest in Capital City, remembering the old times before D left the B-A-N-D. In a flashback, we see D telling news reporters that his destiny is rock now. Back in the present scene, A suggests that B and C should reunite with N and D to re-form the band.

/k/-/æ/-/b/, CAB!

They create a cab and sit inside, singing a song about bringing back the band. They arrive at D's house, where he is practicing the drums in his garden. His sister tells about her plan; but D rejects it, citing a "disaster" the last time they were together. He has decided to do his own song, a "daring duet" for didgeridoo and drums, and explains his plans. while asking for the drumsticks from A and B.

/b/-/æ/-/d/, BAD!

D plays a "really bad" piece of music, which disappoints C, B and A. C calls the other blocks into their car. The day turns into night, and D is sleeping in the front seat. A complains about needing a place to rest, but soon spots a neon sign advertising E's hotel. E calls everyone inside, despite D's objections. B asks for a "bed and a bite to eat" from E. F comes into the lobby, bringing two plates of shashliks and carrots.

/f/-/ɛ/-/d/, FED!

The food disappears, since everyone has eaten their meals.

/b/-/ɛ/-/d/, BED!

A bed appears, and C and D sleeps in it. A asks about an alternative place to sleep, so F sends them to G and H, who have built a bonfire in the backyard. They are singing. G then plants grass by pouring water from her guitar. A and B arrive, and B asks: "What could be better on a beautiful night then sleeping under the stars?" With G's help, the two create a sleeping...

/b/-/æ/-/ɡ/, BAG!

They yawn and soon fall asleep. B and A sleep on the bag, G on the grass and H on the sand. In the morning, G and H are gone; A and B wake to E's megaphone. They depart, leaving H behind. D to G complain about the car being too small for the new passengers. The scene pans to I, where she sings a boastful song about her intelligence, importance, and interest to others. J interrupts the song by dropping from a tree nearby.

A sign under the tree marks a bus stop; shortly after J's appearance, a bus rolls by. D asks I about the capital city, and she explains to him. H catches up with the two letters and joins them.

/h/-/ɪ/-/d/, HID!

H, I and D hide behind a bush which suddenly appears; and the bus passes them by. A and B manage to find them. I asks about the band, and B says that they will reunite when they are onboard. I boasts about herself.

/dʒ/-/ɪ/-/ɡ/, JIG!

They start dancing together. B replaces J.

/b/-/ɪ/-/ɡ/, BIG!

The car turns into a limousine, F invites all of them inside. They pass through the fuel station, and their tank is empty at the football ground. B complains about the fuel station, only to hear K kicking his ball and playing keepie-uppy. He passes through 100 kicks, and passes the ball to C, but she cracks the field.

/b/-/æ/-/k/, BACK!

They turn their time back to the fuel station, with H, F and I outside. L is seen roaming in the forest. She duplicates herself.

/f/-/ɪ/-/l/, FILL!

The birds fill the tank.

/h/-/ɪ/-/l/, HILL!

The terrain slopes downward now; H, I, L and F chase the car to the bottom. K and the other Alphablocks enter the limousine. They arrive at M's Marvelous Milkshakes. He boasts about his shop. A and J order one milkshake each. They join hands and make...

/dʒ/-/æ/-/m/, JAM!

M is astonished when he sees the traffic jam instead of the fruit jam. D complains about the disaster. B, A, and D reach N's house by foot; several prohibition signs are posted in the yard. B shows an advertisement for the Big Bop, but N rejects the invitation. A tries (but fails) to motivate him; N starts walking back inside. I announces that she knows what to do and intercepts N at the door.

/ɪ/-/n/, IN!

N changes his mind, deciding that he wants to be *in* the band again. When N asks where his guitar went, it appears. They arrive close to O's car. F, G, and L appear. O complains about the mud, which he got stuck in. F tries to take him out, duplicating herself in the process.

/ɒ/-/f/, OFF!

The front tyre disappears. N complains, while O gives a solution.

/l/-/ɛ/-/m/-/ɒ/-/n/, LEMON!

A lemon appears in place of the missing tyre. Back in the limo, P pops inside to guide them in the right direction by joining hands with M and A.

/m/-/æ/-/p/, MAP!

A map appears, guiding them. D exclaims about the right way. When evening falls, the others encounter R to U in a pirate ship. R tells her crew to raise the anchor, and S exclaims about the Seven Seas and the sunset. T serves tea with U on the top, and Q jokes about packing his "clean underwear", which he finds "utterly embarrassing". The sea rocks the boat.

/ɹ/-/ʌ/-/s/-/t/, RUST!

The car rusts into junk; the tyres fall off. C, F, and the BAND complain about this incident, while RUST sail away.

/b/-/ʌ/-/s/, BUS!

A bus appears, and the blocks praise it. E invites everyone on board; however, Q nearly misses it. She finds U and makes the digraph QU.

/kw/-/ɪ/-/k/, QUICK!

The bus quickens, and the band practice their song, but N complains that the instrumentals are too noisy. They soften their playing. A sings, but D and B complain about the lack of driving bass. T comes with QU and I.

/kw/-/ɪ/-/t/, QUIT!

This causes N to quit, and leave. The rest of the band feels sad about this. A and N come outside, to be joined by V, with his steering van.

/v/-/æ/-/n/, VAN!

A van forms, and they join inside. W reaches the van, and join E and T.

/w/-/ɛ/-/t/, WET!

The rain falls from the hole, and G is happy to see about the water coming to grow her grass hair. She fills her gardening can, before both the cars arrive at the Big Bop. I complains that the BAND were extremely silly, which prompts X to appear. X thinks of a solution to the BAND's problem.

/m/-/ɪ/-/ks/, MIX!

The BAND forms again, joined by Y, asking about the tickets.

/j/-/ɛ/-/s/, YES!

The tickets form in D's hand, and Y lets them in. They see Z sleeping, in which A complains about.

/j/-/ɛ/-/l/, YELL!

They shout, which wakes Z up. All Alphablocks appear. O exclaims about the reunion. W is happy about all the Alphablocks appear, and exclaims that they can make anything. A splits into four copies of herself. Also, they say that when letters go together they go...

/æ/-/l/-/æ/-/k/-/æ/-/z/-/æ/-/m/, ALAKAZAM!

The concert begins, the crowd appears, and the BAND sings. B and N play their guitars, D plays his drums, and A is the lead singer. The song continues with the crowd, and the episode ends.

## Characters (in their order of appearance)

Note: All Alphablocks appeared in this episode.

* A
* B
* C
* N
* D
* Q
* U
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* O
* P
* R
* S
* T
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

### Digraphs

* QU
* CK
* LL
* FF

## Words

* Band
* Ban (stealth word)
* Cab
* Bad
* Fed
* Bed
* Bag
* Hid
* Jig
* Big
* Back
* Fill
* Hill
* Jam
* In
* Off
* On (stealth word)
* Lemon
* Map
* No (stealth word)
* Rad (stealth word)
* Rust
* Bus
* Quick
* Quit
* Van
* Wet
* Mix
* Yes
* Yell
* Alakazam
* Rock (stealth word)
* Pop (stealth word)
* Bop (stealth word)
* Socks (stealth word)

## Trivia

* Total words: 28
* The episode is 20 minutes long, unlike the other episodes.
* If you don't count Word Magic, this is the first full Alphablocks episode since Cowboy, in 2013.
	+ This episode first aired exactly 8 years, 3 months, and 2 weeks after Cowboy first aired.
		- This ultimately beats the previous longest hiatus of Numberblocks, which is between Numberblocks Season 6 and Season 7, at 1 year, 6 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days.
		- Alphablocks already had a longer hiatus, which is between series 1 and 2, at 2 years, 1 week, and 1 day.
	+ This is also the first episode of Alphablocks to be released after Numberblocks, and in the 2020s decade.
* This episode has the most words out of every Alphablocks episode.
* All the letters of the alphabet are used at least once when doing Word Magic.
* This is the fifth episode where all the Alphablocks appeared in an episode. The first being A-Z (episode), second being Alphalympics, third being On, and fourth being ABC.
* This is the first ever time where the intro has changed: It's reanimated due to new technology, there are no sounds, and the 2021 Alphablocks logo is used: The Numberblocks logo with the blocky O instead of 1 and A, L, PH, and A instead of "Number".
	+ At the end of the episode, there's a picture from the thumbnail that's extended, but we see the 2020 Alphablocks logo (without the outline) on the sky background with the 2 As and the "ph" moving instead of the screenshot of the BAND. This is also the new Alphablocks intro.
	+ Also when B, A, N and D says "back again, nicely done" the first letter of each word makes the word "band".
* The dice hanging from the car resembles the appearance of Six.
	+ The dice is indigo with light indigo spots.
* This is Q's first speaking appearance (in the 2020s decade) since Quick.
	+ However in ABC, Q says her name, saying "cue".
* Like The Treasure of Hexagon Island (Numberblocks), the intro was remixed in this episode, but this time, it's at the end.

## Errors

• At a certain point in the episode, the GPS shows us that the limo is already at K's location, but at the next scene, the limo is still at the gas station. This may be a minor thing.

• The GPS is wrong. According to the GPS, the gas station is just past the field (K's location), but the limo was at the gas station before passing it and getting to the field. If the GPS was right, they wouldn't need the word "back" to get back to the gas station. Instead, they would get a new vehicle (because they are already out of gas)

• When they get back to the gas station because of time, the field suddenly disappears. This might be why the GPS is wrong.

## Videos

   or click the link/URL...

Google Drive - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aBoTLZ9w4h-ORyPSacgHbqR8FGGNeBGN/view?usp=sharing

* Nara Sherko - https://vimeo.com/642883167

## References

1. ↑ CBeebies - Schedules, Saturday 16 October 2021

*Alphablocks* episodes

*Learningblocks* Specials