Bananice

**Bananice**

**Season 1, episode 01 (Production order); Episode 01 (Overall)**

**"Bananice"** is the first episode of season 1 of the series *Ghostforce*. According to the series' production/written order, it is the 1st episode and premiere of Season 1, as well as the 1st episode of the series, overall.

## Synopsis

Andy and Drake's basketball rivalry awakens Bananice, a ghost that freezes everything in its wake.

## Plot

The episode begins with a seagull flying over New York City before the screen switches to Liv who is sitting on the staircase side. Mike greets Liv and asks where Andy is. Liv states that Andy is already at school, but Mike didn't believe it. She then explains that Andy told her he was going to head to school early this time so he could put the final touches on their science project. This causes Mike to become excited, believing that Andy is finally listening to him and that he was able to get him back on the "path to success". Then, Andy, who is at the school's basketball court with Drake Miller, scores another goal. He then brags to Drake about getting a score 80 times, while Drake only 70 times. Drake gets aggravated by Andy's remark and challenges him to a re-match after school is finished. Liv and Mike then see Andy in the basketball court and Mike gets disappointed, but believes that there is still some hope into getting Andy to the "path of success". Andy then asks Liv and Mike if they have seen his raw power but the two walk away in annoyance which causes Andy to go after them.

At the front of NYC High School, Roland states that Mike's regular order is ready to go. The order in question is an anchovy in a bun with chocolate syrup, mustard, wasabi, sprinkles and an orange slice. But Mike declines this as today is their science project in which they have to present. So, he just orders a banana-flavored popsicle stick instead, causing Roland slight disappointment. Just as the three were about to enter the school, Drake calls out Andy in his full name which causes Andy to do the same to Drake. Drake then states that Andy has something that belongs to him. Knowing what he means, Andy tosses the basketball at Drake. However, Bobby jumps in front in him, attempting to catch the ball for Drake. But the ball bounces off of Bobby's face and lands in the alleyway hitting a fridge which has a ghost inside. Drake tells Bobby to do something but at the moment he was dazed. Later, the two enter the alleyway, but there is a metal gate blocking the way. Drake tells Bobby to give him a hand which he does then Drake jumps over the metal gate. He then goes on to get his ball out, but then notices the **ghost** and gets scared. Bananice freezes him on the spot, causing Bobby to panic and head on, with the ghost as well, to the NYC school.

Later, Mike starts to explain his science project by using the Bananice popsicle he bought from Roland's Ghost Dog stand. The whole class laughs at Mike holding the popsicle thinking it is his science project, but Mike says that it's only a tool to help demonstrate how their project works. Suddenly, Bobby runs into the classroom with Drake Miller frozen in his arm. As Professor Pascal suggests they should use their science project to heat up Drake Miller, Andy tells Liv to get the lens and she then goes on trying to heat up Drake. She succeeds but all of a sudden, Bananice enters the classroom and tries to eat Andy's popsicle but he dodges it and Bananice unintentionally freezes Rajat, scaring and causing all the students in the classroom (except the Ghostforce trio) to run out of the classroom, with Bobby carrying Rajat just like he did with Drake. After that, it continues trying to eat Andy's popsicle, causing Andy to trip on one of his shoe's unties laces, but to his surprise Liv then appears and uses their project to heat up Bananice and this angers it. Bananice runs away and phases through a cupboard and Liv chases after it but she can't find the ghost. She stands up and happens to find it inside a chemistry beaker and then runs away due to Bananice chasing her. Mike then calls Miss Jones using his Ectocap and asks about the ghost. Miss Jones says it's a level 7 ghost from the freezer family that can become powerful by eating anything served extremely cold; Bananice as the perfect instance.

Bananice then bites Andy's popsicle and Andy tries to throw the ghost, but it is already too late because the ghost has consumed the popsicle. The ghost becomes more powerful and bigger, and it tries to freeze Andy, Liv, and Mike, who are in front of the ghost. They try to withstand the cold and when the large ice crystals appear, they hide behind the frozen shelves and try to make no sounds at all. Bananice gets suspicious and goes near the ice crystals, trying to hear if there is anyone there. Andy wants to transform into Fury to fight the ghost, but Liv stops him from doing so. Bananice thinks the three have been frozen and then phases through the school's wall. Andy, Liv and Mike then transform into Fury, Myst, and Krush.

***[The plot for Bananice is not yet completed]***

## Characters

### Major characters

* Andy Baker/Fury
* Liv Baker/Myst
* Mike Collins/Krush
* Freezofear/Bananice

### Minor characters

* Miss Jones
* Drake Miller
* Bobby
* Professor Pascal
* Rajat
* Asta
* Carla (background)
* Marlo (background)
* Charlie (background)
* Jane (background)
* Stacy (background)
* Civilians

## Trivia

* Internationally, this episode first premiered in Israel, the first country to air the series, making it the first episode overall worldwide.
	+ This episode is also the first episode aired in France, the USA, and other countries.

* Footages of this episode were first shown in the December 2019 *Ghostforce* promotional video.
	+ However, there're three deleted scenes in the promotional video. One that shows the Ghostforce's early transformation sequence, another the trio coming out of the school and immediately flying in the sky, and the third being the trio flying above the street of the frozen lower Manhattans. All of the deleted scenes feature each of the Ghostforce members wearing a cape as part of their original costume design.
* During the 2020 Conférence de Rentrée panel on July 1, 2020, TFOU released a sneak peek clip of the episode, albeit with English audio instead of French. Aside from having different background music playing and not a lot of sound effects being heard in the sneak peek clip, there's a lot of differences between the sneak peek clip and the final version of the episode:
	+ Liv is noticeably frowning when she explained to Mike that Andy is "already at school" instead of smiling like in the final version. Because of this, it comes off that Liv in the sneak peek clip was already aware Andy was lying to her about going to school early and instead had a basketball match with Drake.
	+ When Mike happily believed that Andy is going to school early because he assumed his best friend finally listened to him to get back on the "path to success", the background behind him was orange instead of yellow and it didn't feature any stars spinning in the background.
	+ There isn't any shadow effect around Andy before he scored his final basketball shot in the sneak peek clip.
	+ The sneak peek clip cuts out the entire scene where Roland letted Mike know that his usual order is ready as well as Mike explained to him that he would like to instead buy a *Bananice* popsicle as part of the class project. As a result, the sneak peek clip didn't gave the viewers a full context on why Roland was upset when Mike ordered a *Bananice* popsicle.
	+ The school bell isn't heard ringing in the sneak peek clip when Andy says "goodbye" to Drake so he won't be late for class.
	+ When Drake demanded Bobby to retrieve the basketball from the alleyway, he said, "Do something, will ya?". However, in the final version, the line got changed to, "Bobby, do something!".
	+ When Bobby saw Drake being frozen, the camera angle is very different in the final version.
	+ After Drake got frozen by Bananice, the sneak peek clip cuts to the (unfinished) scene transition before showing Freezofear has switched to booster mode. It didn't explain to the viewers that the ghost has switched to booster mode after it ate the *Bananice* popsicle in the final version. In addition, the scene transition is Fury's Ghostforce emblem spinning in the background. But in the final version, the show uses the chibi scene transitions instead.
	+ Because the sneak peek clip was made while the show was still in its production stage, a different and very short transformation sequence was used. The transformation sequence from the sneak peek clip is the same one from the October 2019 promotional video.
* Two posters of Ladybug from *Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir* can be seen twice in this episode. The first time, the poster is seen in the alleyway where Drake retrieved his basketball before he was frozen by Freezofear. The second time, the poster is seen in Professor Pascal's classroom.
* Another reference to *Miraculous Ladybug* is that this episode features an antagonist having the power to manipulate the weather similar to the akumatized villain Stormy Weather. Coincidentally enough, both the antagonist's titular episodes are the very first to be released worldwide in their respective shows with the exact same production code being "101".
* One year before the episode made its worldwide premiere, Jeremy Zag uploaded four episode clips on his Instagram.
* On July 5, 2021, Jeremy Zag uploaded a short video showing Miss Jones's laboratory interface receiving an alert that Bananice has been detected. Though, that scene didn't appear in the final version.
* This episode revealed that the Ghostforce's suits have a heat setting to make their wearers feel warmer when they're in a cold environment.
* This is so far the only episode where there isn't any prologue prior to the title card. This is likely due to this being the first produced episode of the series.
* This is also the first episode where none of the Ghostforce members summon their respective ghosts to use their powers against a wild ghost.
* This is the only episode where Glups is absent.

### Errors

* Professor Pascal has Asta present with him when class is in session. However, after Freezofear froze Rajat, causing everyone (except the Ghostforce trio) to panic and run out of the classroom, Asta is nowhere to be seen with Professor Pascal. Though, it's likely the dog escaped off-screen.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/LPoilis/status/1543685100390563841
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:GhostForce - Official December 2019 Promotional Video HD
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPxQiegL7c
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCVExttAuvx
5. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzVTXAA85D
6. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzVxtTgVWv
7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ9iY1eqUqK