Between A Raccoon & A Hard Place

### Starring the Voices of

Kathleen Barr, Garry Chalk, Ian James Corlett, Paul Dobson, Michael Donovan, Christopher Gray, Tony Jay, Andrea Libman, Scott McNeil, Shirley Millner, S. Louise Vallance

### Game(s)

*Rocky the Rabid Raccoon*

"Between A Raccoon & A Hard Place" is the second episode of Season 3 of *ReBoot*, the second episode of the arc To Mend and Defend, and the twenty-fifth episode overall. It originally aired on July 24, 1997 on ITV and August 27, 1997 on YTV.

## DVD Log Line

Phong convinces Dot that in order to give the citizens of Mainframe something to believe in, Enzo must face the User in a game alone as their Guardian. —*ReBoot: The Definitive Mainframe Edition*

## Cultural References

* "Oh, the circuitry, the circuitry!" is a reference to the famous line "Oh, the humanity!" uttered by radio journalist Herb Morrison in response to the Hindenburg disaster.
* "The line must be drawn here!" uttered by the 1 binome resembling Jean-Luc Picard (not to be confused with the 0 *named* Jean-Luc) is from *Star Trek: First Contact* and is in reference to the Borg, whose catchphrase is, of course, "Resistance is futile."
* The Game is a *Looney Tunes* parody:
	+ The artistic style of the Game environment, as well as the style of humor.
	+ Rocky the Rabid Raccoon behaves like the Tasmanian Devil.
	+ Enzo reboots as Elmer Fudd.
	+ Classics of cartoon violence, especially the good ol' tar-and-steamroller.
* AndrAIa's motorbike has Cifelli tires, a reference to Pirelli tires.
* The "Paul is dead" Beatles conspiracy theory:
	+ The license plate on the car that forms part of Enzo's Rube Goldberg trick shot reads 28IF, part of the license plate of the car on the cover of *Abbey Road* and one of the "clues" in the theory.
	+ The mirror-written graffiti in the subway include "BOB IS DEAD" (followed immediately by "NO HE AIN'T").
* The binomes at the base of the cliff have rebooted as the couple in *American Gothic* by Grant Wood.

## Trivia

* Cyrus's propaganda graffiti slogans:
	+ WE NEED PROTECTORS NOT PRETENDERS
	+ DEEDS NOT DUDS
	+ GUARDIAN SCHMARDIAN
* **Production number gag:** *Very* hard to spot, but the train that takes Rocky's first life is FARQUHAR'S SOUL TRAIN 9702 (2nd episode produced in 1997).
* *Rocky the Rabid Raccoon* is the only Game seen to contain a minigame (whack-a-mole) other than *Video Athlete*, which is arguably *entirely* minigames.
* The extra life coin reads ½ SCENT and ROCKY RACOON [*sic*].
* Other subway graffiti appear to read "FOLLOW THE DOT", "STUPID NULL HEADS", "FAULKNER", "WHAT IS UNDERSTOOD DOESN'T NEED TO BE DISCUSSED", "NATURE BOY", and "HERE". (In most shots these appear in mirror image.)
* The Jamaican binome's song is titled "Raccoon Calypso".
* The buttons on the Cup-o-Pork vending machine include "Piglet Pack" and "Swine Stuffer!"
* After the Game leaves, the prospector is revealed to be a businessman, the American Gothic "wife" is the Marge Gunderson binome, the "husband" has a priest's collar, and the scarecrow is wearing a mortarboard and gown.

## References

1. ↑ https://nationalpost.com/news/world/i-buried-paul-your-guide-to-the-convoluted-conspiracy-that-paul-mccartney-died-in-1966