A Barb is Born

## **Guide**

**A Barb is Born** is the 1st episode of Season 5 of Summer Camp Island and the 86th episode overall.

## Synopsis

On the third day of the world, Barb tries to save the ferns from being eaten by the spotted bears. But the bears are only getting hungrier and hungrier – will Barb be able to stop the ferns from going extinct?

## Plot

The world is 3 days old and Summer Camp Island is populated by only animals and plants. The Ferns and Bears can talk, but when the Ferns say they don't want the Bears to eat them, the Bears say they're protectors and the Ferns should just be happy to have them. Then, suddenly, Barb is born out of a giant flower. She's 60 already and immediately goes about trying to understand herself and the world around her. The Ferns say she's their savior and she asks what the problem is. It's Bears. She doesn't know what those are, having just been born, and the Ferns tell her it's the biggest thing on the island, shaggy, and extremely rude. This causes her to think a tree with rough bark must be the bear when she bumps it and it doesn't reciprocate her apology. The Ferns tell her that's not it and she comes down and explains how confused she is at the situation, saying she doesn't even know what the "weird purse" she came with is. The Ferns see it's a quiver of arrows (though they're really just feathers or quills) and tell her she must be a hunter, here to get rid of the Bears. She agrees to do it and a kudzu vine takes her to the Bears.

Barb observes the Bears from afar. She says in addition to being big, shaggy, and rude, they are also clumsy, hungry, and irritable. She thinks using the pointy end of her feather would be too harsh and decides to see what happens when she uses the soft side. She tickles a bear's foot, which ends up causing a fight among all the bears because they're so irritable. They split up all in tears and go separate ways. Barb celebrates her apparent success and catches a ride back to the Ferns on the kudzu vine, only to see the Bears rampaging across the island before she gets there. The Ferns blame her for worsening the Bears' behavior and exile her to the top of the mountain, where they say no ferns grow. On the way, Barb invents speaking in the third person.

At the top of the mountain, only one fern grows- Olf (one lonely fern)- next to a beautiful pink jelly pool. Barb laments not being able to be what the Ferns said she should be and gets down on herself, shouting "STUPID BARB!" into the air. Olf comforts and encourages her, asking her about her strengths. Barb says she can hang upside down, repurpose things that harm to instead disarm, and made up speaking in third person. Her introspection sparks the realization that she's new, like nothing that has come before, and she's supposed to make more things that never existed before. She yells "I am Barb and I am an INVENTOR!" so loud the echo knocks her down. When Olf says she's also clumsy, Barb snaps at her, before quicly apologizing. She says she's just clumsy, hungry, and irritable, and to fix that she just needs to close her eyes for 8-10 hours. But before she can, she realizes that's just what the Bears need, too. Roll credits.

## Characters

* Barb
* Spotted Bears
	+ Waylon (debut)
	+ Chet (debut)
	+ Dolly (debut)
* Ferns (debut)
	+ Polly (debut)
	+ Langston (debut)
	+ Vern (debut)
	+ Olf (debut)
* Kudzu (debut)

## Trivia

* This episode is the first part of "Barb and the Spotted Bears" story arc of Season 5.

### Cultural references

* This episode is a reference to Don Bluth's 1988 animated adventure drama film, *The Land Before Time*.

## Production Notes

* Although this episode premiered on HBO Max on December 9, 2021, it was actually produced in 2020 according to the credits.

 Season 2
 Season 3