Rug Island

**Rug Island** is an episode from the second season of *Bluey*.

## Synopsis

### ABC Kids

Bluey and Bingo pretend that they are living on a desert island in the back garden and they discover Dad washed up on the beach. Dad needs to embrace his inner kid if he wants to make Bingo and Bluey's Rug Island his home, too.

### Disney

It's early Saturday morning, and Bluey and Bingo are eating cereal while Bandit heads off to work. The girls ask him if he would play with them, but he says he can't. Bluey then says she's glad she's a kids, but Bandit tells her to enjoy it while it lasts as he leaves. Chilli then comes in with a pack of felt pens; this gives the girls the idea to play Rug Island, leaving Chilli confused. On the Rug Island itself, felt pens can be anything: fish, campfires, bananas, and even snakes. As Bingo heads to get some pipis, the rug island transforms into a tropical island, with palm trees that grow all kinds of fruits, water surrounding the island, and a fortress for the girls to reside in.

As the two gather the last berries they need for their feast, the Cassowary and magpie that popped their balloon and ruined their nail salon swoop down and steal it, causing the two to become sad. Bluey then remembers what Bandit said about enjoying being a kid while it lasts and tells Bingo that if the two are going to get their food back, they'll need to let out their true kid and use their imaginations to trick the two sneaky birds! The two first set up a trapping pit and cover it with leaves; next they leave a trail of food for the birds to follow; finally, they grab a football to set off the springboard in the pit. Once everything is set up, the magpie starts following the trail and falls into the pit. An angry Cassowary flies in and, even though neither one can speak, calls him an idiot for falling for the trap; he's fallen for it too many times. Just as they are about to escape, the girls drop the football into the pit, thus setting off the springboard and launching the birds high into the sky and into the water.

The wet birds find a nearby raft and swim back to their habitat. As the girls cheer, the tropical island transforms back into the rug island just as Bandit arrives back from work. Before he can walk onto the porch, Bingo gives him a flower crown while Bluey gives him a present wrapped in leaves. Chilli asks what's inside; Bandit's not sure, but as soon as he unwraps it, he gets flashbacks to his childhood, having lost his favorite felt pen. What's inside is a felt pen that looks exactly like it, and Bandit begins shedding some tears. When Chilli asks what the girls gave him, he says "My entire childhood."

### ABC Kids

* Dave McCormack as Bandit
* Brad Elliot as Pat

### Disney

* Brook Jenell Slack as Bingo/lorikeets
* Karen Prell as Bluey/lorikeets
* E.G. Daily as the vocal effects of Bluey and the tree frogs
* Melanie Zanetti, Nancy Cartwright, Nika Futterman, Jim Cummings and Frank Welker as the island animals
	+ Welker also provides the vocal effects of the Cassowary and his magpie, the tree frogs, tiger snake and crocodile and reads the title of the episode as usual.
* Ozzy Osbourne (U.K.)/Nathan Lane (U.S.) as Bandit

## Trivia

* This is the first episode of the Disney version to do a few things:
	+ Show one of the parents actually leaving to go to work. In this case, it is Bandit with his job in archeology.
	+ Have the Cassowary’s magpie be shown as the dumber of the two birds, as it was hinted at in previous episodes.
	+ Be collaboratively composed by James Newton Howard and Mike O’Donnell & Junior Campbell.
* This episode has been described as Nathan Lane’s passion project, as he wanted to break free from his usual Broadway performances and write a more down-to-earth tribute to John Hughes. The films in which this movie pays respect to in this regard are *Planes, Trains and Automobiles* and *Home Alone*.