Cleanliness Is Next to Impossible

**Cleanliness is Next to Impossible** is the sixth episode of the first season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ans the 8th episode in the overall. It originally aired on February 21, 1988.

## Synopsis

The episode begins with Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger running from a giant tornado and trying to get inside the storm cellar. Piglet is suddenly picked up by the wind and Pooh and Tigger are swept away as well as they try to bring him back down. The scene shifts into Christopher's messy bedroom as the friends tumble behind the bed from the powerful current of an electric fan which Christopher manages to shut off. Just then, his mother comes in and regards how filthy her son's room is. Last time Christopher attempted cleaning his room, he just shoved everything under the bed "with the crud". His mother says he has to clean the room up properly before he goes to play outside. After remembering all the toys he lost in the mess, he decides it would be best if he cleaned up. His mother hand s her a vacuum cleaner and a bar of soap for his next bath.

When his mother leaves, Christopher looks around and complains about how long this will take. Tigger tries to help by throwing all the stuff in a big pile, then tries to cover it up with a blanket. The friends aren't satisfied with this either and Tigger gets an idea of throwing it all under the bed where he thinks the toys would enjoy the most. After the bed is stuffed up with toys, the toys suddenly disappear. The friends think this means the bed wants more and Pooh is about to throw in a shoe when Piglet stops him, saying the Crud Christopher Robin's Mother mentioned might not like it. Pooh throws it in nonetheless and immediately, the shoe shoots right back out. The friends try throwing it in a few more times, ending with the shoe pushing Tigger and Christopher into the closet which closes on them. Suddenly, an ominous voice speaks out from the bed, asking not to put the shoe in again. Pooh and Piglet nervously crawl under the bed to respond to the voice but end up getting sucked in to the under-the-bed world where a group of living crayons come and take the unsuspecting friends away.

Meanwhile in the bedroom, Christopher Robin and Tigger have escaped the closet and wonder where Pooh and Piglet could have gone. After Tigger tackles what turns out to be a pillow, Christopher discovers the shoe and realizes their friends must have gone under the bed. He crouches down and gets sucked in, followed by Tigger and the two find themselves in this dusty world where Christopher's enlarged toys are scattered everywhere. As they explore, they run into a little cluster of sneezing dust named Smudge who leads them to Crud, whom he says will be pleased to meet him. Christopher Robin believed Smudge may know where Pooh and Piglet are and he and Tigger follow.

The three arrive at Christopher Robin's other shoe which has become some sort of castle. An army of crayons line up the the entrance and at "The Boy". When the three enter the shoe, sinister laughter rings through the room and a sickly green hand made of slime and gunk beckons the boy to come closer. The hand leads to a mass of slime which emerges into a huge monster. Crud explains that this kingdom wouldn't have come to be if it weren't for Christopher Robin throwing everything under the bed. Tigger says they should just get their missing friends back and get out of this strange place as Christopher expresses his guilt for not cleaning up down here. Upon hearing this, Crud is enraged and orders Smudge to show the boy the monster's plan. Smudge pulls a rope and a river of Crud's filth and grime emerges. Christopher then spots his lost toys slaving away at the vacuum cleaner and filling it with the slime, Crud explaining this to be his "Un-vacuum" which he plans to use to spread filth everywhere and rule the world. When Tigger is sent away after expressing disgust at this, Christopher confronts the Crud and demands to know where his friends are. Crud says if the boy doesn't make things dirtier for him, Christopher will never see them again. The boy refuses to help and says "From now on, my middle name is 'Clean'". At the utterance of this word, Crud freaks out and orders his guards to throw him in the dungeon.

In a cell made of dominoes and playing cards, Pooh states that they should get out and Tigger yanks at the bars, enthusiastically calling out "Let me outta here! Let me out, I tell ya!" Piglet wipes away at the dirty floor and realizes the floor is nothing but dirt as it sinks down and opens up as a hole that gradually gets larger and sucks the trio down into a hallway a giant crayon boxes where they get chased by Crud's crayon army. They batter through the battalion with Christopher Robin's missing roller skate but crash and break it, having them resort to a plan B to rescue their friend. They disguise themselves as a crayon and sneak into the bed like cell where Christopher Robin is being kept. Upon freeing them, the crayons find them and chase them into Crud's Throne Room. Christopher bravely goes up to confront the monster who plucks the boy of the ground in anger. The bar of soap slips out of Christopher's back pocket and Pooh hurls it back up to him. As Christopher holds the soap up to Crud, making him cower, the boy's toys burst in with the vacuum cleaner, now back in its original functioning state. They turn it on and defeat Crud and Smudge who fly into the tube.

Back in the bedroom, Christopher Robin and the friends rush to put everything in their proper places so Crud would never return. Before long, his Mother comes in amazed but one last sock on the floor. She is about to throw in under the bed-presumably to test her son-but Christopher snatches it away and puts it in the laundry basket. The Mother lets her son go out and play, but Christopher says he has to take a bath first which surprises his Mother.

## Characters

* Pooh
* Christopher Robin
* Piglet
* Tigger
* Christopher Robin's mother
* The Yo-Yo (only appearance)
* Crayon Soldiers (only appearance)
* Crud (only appearance)
* Smudge (only appearance)

## Trivia

* The song that's featured in this episode is 'Under the Bed'.
* The title is based on the catchphrase: "Cleanliness is next to godliness."
* In the opening scene, Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger have a fantasy sequence in which they are being chased by a tornado (later revealed to be a fan). The backgrounds are painted to look like the sepia-toned Kansas from the 1939 classic *The Wizard of Oz*, with A. Arnold Gillespie's muslin sock tornado that sends Dorothy and Toto to the land of Oz, given a personification.
* This episode was never released on VHS or DVD in most places of the world; its only home video release so far was in a VHS published in the UK.
* During the song 'Under the Bed' at the beginning of the episode, the Pixar Ball makes a cameo.