Friday Night Fights

## Description

URM (**U**ltimate **R**oller **M**aze) is an annual tournament between Enchatria High and different enchatria high schools that consists of a roller derby of dangerous obstacles and mazes. Kryptomite City High, a high school team of kryptonites and Enchatria High's oldest rivals, won the school crest after defeating them in URM, and with it taking the school spirit. This has resulted in the school literally beginning to fall apart, and due to the boy's serious injuries after the tournament, they decide not to participate any longer.

This prompts the ghouls to play URM in the boy's place, and they suit up and begin training. However, the boys protest and claim URM is a boy's sport only, and they won't help the ghouls train. This only pushes them to work harder, intending to make it to the championship game to defeat Kryptonite City High.

## Story

The girls are skating against a rival team in Ultimate Roller Maze (URM); highlighting the following players as they skate; Rachel, Lori, Wendy, Gina, Abby, Zee and Elsa, then finally Judy. It is then shown Gina crosses the finish line and wins the game for Enchatria High. Her teammates skate over to congratulate and then the scene flips to Wendy, introducing what URM is all about, stating that girls are some of the best players, although it wasn't always that way. Last season was an example and then the film flashbacks to said time. The flashback begins with an unseen announcer welcoming all to the Ultimate RollerMaze game between the Nightmares of Enchatria High and the Kryptonites of Kryptonite City, and both sides of the crowd are cheering for their team. The four cheerleaders; Wendy, Lori, Rachel, and Judy; are cheering for EH.

Abby and Zee, who is in the crowd with Gina, Jack, and Elsa, along with others, states that she does not see the point in 'skate game' seeing how she's known how to skate since she was up to the height of a yak's knee. Gina then points out that Ultimate RollerMaze is so much more than just a skating game; that it's a course full of twists, turns, obstacles and so much more; the whole point of the game is how you react to what's thrown at you. She also states that the Gargoyles are Enchatria Girls High's biggest and oldest enemy, saying that every time one school wins, they get the other team's school crest, saying that it's been a tradition that has been going on for centuries. The scene then flashes to and stays at the race between Enchatria High and Kryptonite City, in which Rocko, the leader of the gargoyle team, grabs one of the camera bats, and Larry, his fellow teammate, sneaks up from behind Keith, taking his glasses off and they turn the camera bat to stone, to leave no evidence of their cheating. Rocko and Larry then knock over Keith and Jimmy, leaving them in the dust whilst chasing after the rest of the team.

After the theme song, Timmy and Andy go into the course in replace of Keith and Jimmy. Clyde and Rocco are basically neck and neck during the course, determined to win for their school. Rocko and Larry then notice Timmy and Andy and are somewhat distraught, only before Rocko declare that they might as well finish off Enchatria High, who, according to him, 'plays like a bunch of girls' (this statement, oddly enough, saddens the completely masked player behind them). After going through yet another course, Larry pulls out a red cloak from almost nowhere, obviously causing Andy to become infuriated and skate furiously after it, thus ramming straight into Timmy, and the both of them are out. One of the Kryptonite City players, the masked one, is startled and trips over them and is left behind by the team, who, yet again, cheats more discreetly. While neck and neck with Clyde, one of Rocko's skates mechanically remove a wheel from Clyde's, and the last member of the EH URM Team falls to the ground right before crossing the finish line, thus allowing Kryptonite City to win the game.

Fast forward to a few days, in which the students of EH are all distraught about the loss whilst Pamela McIvy, like always, is encouraging her fellow classmates to get motivated in saving the Earth. Luckily, she manages to somewhat spread the word to Frankie and Rachel. Abby is confused as to why everyone is so upset about the game, but Rachel tells her it's bigger than she knows. Scarlett is then, apparently, the only one happy about how the Kryptomites of all monsters won. Rachel confronts her about how she could turn her back on her school, but Scarlett is her usual cocky self, rubbing the victory in the girls' faces. Abby, frustrated, freezes the werecat's phone and tells her to watch herself, but of course, Scarlett could care less as she leaves them.

Wendy and Zee then notices that the school looks worse than it normally is and suggest that they all go to see Goodway about what's going on and apparently, their principal gives them the answer that their school spirit is gone. Naturally, Wendy thinks that it's no big deal, but apparently, the school's crest has an actual spirit that protects the halls of Enchatria High from falling apart, literally! However, getting the crest back is not as easy as it sounds because, with three injured team players, they might not be able to make it to the finals to beat the Kryptomites. Now, tending to the boys, Elsa suggests that she go to look for clues to prove that the Kryptomites did cheat due to the fact of Clyde's skates breaking just before the finish line, which is an extremely odd coincidence. At the realization that they will not be able to play at all, Clyde apparently cancels URM for the season, much to everyone's shock.

Days later, the school continues to fall apart, everyone even more miserable than before. Abby, Zee, Lori, and Wendy realize this, and then, out of the blue, Wendy hatches up a plan to recruit new members for the SKRM team so that MH can beat Kryptonite City and win back the crest! After a bit of reluctance, the girls round up almost every boy in the school and judge them for the skills needed in Ultimate RollerMaze; agility, strength... and the ability to skate, most importantly. While doing this, Elsa is on the URM track, looking for evidence that the Kryptomites cheated; however, a certain something distracts her. A tiny piece of metal, and as of now, it's unknown as to what it is. However, back to URM tryouts, where the ghouls judge the mans carefully, only to the news that most of them can't stand in rollerblades. Lucky for them, Gina attempts to teach them, only to be taunted by the fact that a girl of all peoples is teaching them how to do 'their' sport. Nonetheless, she wows them and at first, she's skeptical once Wendy suggests she participate on the team, especially once the boys continue to say that ghouls don't play URM, however, Gina recollects a memory of a certain URM superstar... Michelle Vortex! The first ghoul to play URM over 100 years ago. Despite this fact, the boys stick to their motto that Ultimate RollerMaze is for guys and they all leave the girls to fend for themselves, however, they team up together and vow to win, for Enchatria High!

Naturally, at the sight of girls in URM gear, the school is shocked by Wendy and her friends' decision to take the place of the former team. Clyde is mainly surprised due to his being the captain of the team. At first, he believes it to be a joke, although once he finds out that the girls are serious, he urges them not to play, despite their knowledge of Michelle Vortex, who apparently, according to Clyde, got demolished and was never heard from again. Lori then tries to reason with him, but he refuses to listen, much to most girls' dismay. Nonetheless, with Wendy's assurance and persuasion, the lot of them decide to still play for the fate of their beloved school; however, the training they attempt to pursue is worthless due to their little to no knowledge of the sport. Most of them can barely skate or follow the rules, although they try and do what they can. During this training, Elsa finds another piece of metal, which is a bit bigger than the previous and blue; she seems confused and pondering over what it is. Apparently, part of the girls' training is to skate throughout the school, and despite they're getting better, Wendy and Lori are still lacking in the art of it, still quite clumsy with it. This is noticed by many students, but Layla Parton mainly for some reason, who watches their every move and eventually daringly rescues them from crashing and getting injured. Upon this, Wendy offers the music diva if she wants to join the URM team, although Layla refuses, claiming that she's not the type to join any kind of organized team sports, and she leaves the ghouls, not bothering to say anymore.

The girls first matchup is against the all zombie school, the worst in the league. Wendy gets very nervous and short circuits, thus causing the team to a false start and be disqualified. Clyde confronts Lori and, instead of offering help, demands that she stop playing, or else he will break up with her. Lori refuses to abandon her friends. Then Andy and Timmy videotape the fiasco and mock them. Layla appreciates the rebellious attitude and joins the team, taking Judy's spot. She helps teach the girls the rules, but her attitude makes her a poor coach. Luckily, Clyde returns as the team's new coach.

After a strict training regimen, the ghouls are ready for their sophomore debut against Shadow Academy. The girls play well but are best at the last minute by the rough tactics of the vampires. Serendipitous, Layla was knocked into a pile of tires that contained glowing artifacts. Elsa explains that is the last piece she needed to rebuild Michelle Vortex! Michelle is glad to hear that over 100 years, URM has progressed enough to allow female players. The girls regretfully explain that is not the case, and they are the only all-girl team and are faced with prejudice. Michelle offers her assistance as a player, but she is still missing her balance modulator. Her one piece of advice is that "If you want to win...you need to be true to yourselves...If you want to beat the boys, you need to play like girls." Thus inspiring their new fashionable outfits. The kryptomites begin to mock the new outfits, but the masked player on the team reveals that she is, in fact, a girl. Julie Grande announces that she transferred from Kryptonite City to Enchatria High. She takes Wendy's spot on the team. The girls enter a round-robin tournament and eventually make their way up the leader board until they qualify for the final match between Kryptonite City. Instilling the school with pride, the girls are now wildly popular and even gained the respect of Andy and Timmy, who even volunteer to be the team’s new cheerleaders. During practice, Clyde fears that his intense training won’t be enough to defeat Kryptonite City. Michelle tells Clyde every team has a weakness; he just has to look for it. Clyde notices that Scarlett is spying on the team’s practice, so he hints that they need to play up the discord. The next day Scarlett tries to conspire with Layla against the team.

The final match against Kryptonite city is intense. The gargoyles try to muscle the girls, but they use agility and Abby’s ice powers to avoid many pitfalls. Eventually, Rachel gets injured, and Clyde calls an injury timeout. Lori doesn’t want to come in, but Clyde tells her that he believes in her. The team starts up again. Operetta calls out to Rocko to signal the two gargoyles for a sandwich maneuver during the final stretch. Layla being a double agent, Lori and Julie were ready for the move and jumped out of the way. Layla tackles the two kryptomites, while Julie slingshots Lori to the front with Rocko (thanks to a sonic blast boost from Layla). In a photo finish, Lori wins by a leg. It is revealed that it was Clyde’s plan all along. Scarlett couldn’t pass up the chance to betray the Girls, and Kryptonite City couldn’t pass up the chance to cheat. Now the champions, they win back their crest, thus restoring the school from its dilapidated state. They are also entitled to Kryptonite Highs’ crest, but Wendy realizing the futility of “traditions,” especially ones that cause suffering to others, refuses to accept the crest since it will also cause Kryptonite High to decay.

Meanwhile, Elsa realizes that the trophy is actually Julie’s balance module. Andy and Timmy battle for front row pictures but bump the trophy out of Clyde’s hands. Rachel quickly moves to catch it, then Lori realizes that Rachel may have faked her injury to allow her the opportunity to compete in the finals.

The movie ends with a roll call of the new co-ed team: Clyde Finster, Layla Parton, Andy Tuffkowski, Jimmy Stones, Gina Miller, Timmy Plasience, Julie Grande, and Michelle Vortex.

## Characters

1. Gina Miller
2. Wendy Wonders
3. Rachel Finster
4. Lori Creaser
5. Andy Tuffkowski
6. Timmy Plasience
7. Abby Snowglode
8. Zee Kazaam
9. Elsa McMorgan
10. Clyde Finster
11. Judy von Puckett
12. Von Puckett servants
13. Layla Parton
14. Tiki
15. Manny Beast
16. Kipling
17. C.J. Cupid
18. Scarlett Ferris
19. Jack Andrews
20. Julie Grande
21. Jimmy Stones
22. Keith Evans
23. Murray Martin
24. Oliver McQueen
25. Larry
26. Rocko
27. Ms. Goodway
28. Jessica Piper
29. Kimberly
30. Pamela McIvy
31. Melody
32. Penelope
33. Dory Gazette
34. Brainy Puffies
35. Mr. Wickington
36. Mr. Glennsburg
37. Michelle Vortex
38. Tawnya Finster
39. Donald Marks

## Notes

### References

* The title is a play on *Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream*, a 1990 book which numerous adaptions are just called *Friday Night Lights*. It was written by H. G. Bissinger and follows the story of a high school football team.
* Operetta swinging from the chandelier could be a poke to the ending of The Phantom of The Opera; where the chandelier fell from the ceiling.

### Continuity

* The events of *Friday Night Fights* would be referenced in "Ready, Wheeling and Able".

### Milestones

* Rocko and Larry make their cartoon debuts.
* This TV special kicks off Scarlett's and Rocko's relationship.

### Errors

* Even though Elsa found pieces of evidence that Kryptonite City High cheated, she just drops the investigation when she finds a piece of Michelle. No one asks her about her investigation either.
* When Elsa calculates Clyde's trajectory during his fall, her lenses are translucent green instead of regular transparent.
* No one in a hundred years thought to put Michelle back together? Or move some tires?
* The crest-winning component of the story makes no sense at all. First of all, it is played as something inherent to Ultimate Roller Maze, but it seems only to affect Enchatria High and Kryptonite City High, as none of the other schools lose or win crests. Also, given how quick Enchatria High deteriorated after losing its crest, how can the whole crest business have been going on as tradition at all - only one school would survive each championship.
* For the appearance of Julie in a Kryptonite City High SKRM uniform without a helmet, Julie's head model is placed atop a resized generic Kryptonite City High SKRM uniform-body model. Since Julie's skin color differs from Rocko's and Larry's, her hands do not match her face during the scene in which Julie transfers to Enchatria High.
* During the Girls' first URM game with the zombies of Graveyard Prep, Clyde was watching the ghouls in the audience; however, he did not have his cone & black eye.

### Other

* The video game *Ultimate Roller Maze* ties into this TV special.
* The web game *Fantastic Roller* ties into this TV special.
* The black outfit Elsa wears early on in the TV special is her *Go Enchatria High Team!!!* supporter look.
* "Friday Night Fights" was originally supposed to premiere on July 15, 2022, but didn't. Though no reason has ever been given, it is likely the cancellation was a response to DirecTV's and Viacom's negotiation problems that lasted from the 10th to the 20th. It was promised at San Diego Comic-Con International that the TV special would air, but no date was given. There was much speculation on potential dates within the fandom, but each of them was proven wrong until the announcement that the "Why Do Girls Fall in Love?"/"Friday Night Fights" DVD would be in stores on February 7, 2023. In the end, both TV specials went on sale on iTunes even earlier: on January 23, 2023. The TV special eventually aired on September 8, 2023, over a year since its original premiere date.