Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bananas In Pyjamas -- Getting Rhythm

Before you get excited, I'd better remind you that since Bananas in Pyjamas is a five-minute show, this recap isn't going to be quite as long as the others have been. And yes, I worked that out all by myself. It's just maths.

(By the way, this episode is available to watch on YouTube, but embedding has been turned off so you'll have to head on over there and watch it youself. I've provided a handy link for you, though.)

Watch the hilarity for yourself!

One day, the B-Nays in PJs are walking along the beach, as they often are. I do believe they are official beach-patrollmen, or at least that's what it says on their visors. Oh, and by the way, Bananas, visors and pyjamas are not really a good look. Anyway, the Bananas are cleaning up the beach when B2 finds a guitar. They actually don't realise that it's a guitar at first. B1 thinks it's "a paddle from a very fat canoe." B1, shame -- the PC term is 'overweight canoe.'

B1 finally turns it over and realises that it's a guitar. Yay, super fun times are sure to be just around the corner! B1 asks B2 to play him a tune, but when B2 goes to do so, what he discovers is truly horrible -- the guitar has no strings! Oh noes! At this point, B2 grips the guitar with both hands on the neck, and for a minute there I'm positive he's about to go all Kurt Cobain and smash it on a nearby rock. Which he doesn't. Shame, I'd have really liked to see that.

B1 tells B2 to put the useless guitar in the bin, and as he bends over to pick up said bin, B2 accidentally hits him in the butt with it. B1 giggles. Um, this show is getting a little too fresh for me. I know it was just an accident, but gee, that's inappropriate. B2 thinks that the sound of the guitar slapping lightly against his taut buttocks sounds like a drum, and asks B1 to do it again! So that's what their deal is!

The narrator actually says, "The Bananas thought the guitar sounded like a good drum, so they decided to keep it." Yeah, that's why they decided to keep it, because it makes a good drum sound, not for all those lonely nights in the bedroom they share. B2 even says, "It might come in handy, B1," and B1 suggestively agrees. I don't know what's going on here, but I'm a little frightened. On their way out of the shot, B1 spanks B2 twice more, and they make a weird pleasurable giggling noise. Seriously, they do. I tell you, when it comes to homoerotic non-human kids TV stars, Bert and Ernie ain't got nothin' on these two.

Oh, thank God, it's time for a Teddies scene. I can't take much more Banana-spanking. The Teddies are on the beach making a sandcastle. (Oh no, I can tell we won't be Banana-less for long.) The sandcastle is actually pretty impressive, considering it was made by creatures without opposable thumbs. They all congratulate each other on their successful sandcastle, and I feel a slight twinge of jealousy. They're all so caring and supportive of each other. I wish I was a Teddy. (Except I really, really don't want those freaky Bananas chasing me.) Amy reminds the other two that they have to go home because they're having a barbecue. They cheer again and rush off to light the fire. Because apparently Cuddles Avenue does not have a BBQs Galore.

Back to the Bananas. B1 is walking along the beach collecting rubbish, with B2 giving his arse a royal paddling the whole way. This is really getting too much. Suddenly, B1 comes across an old fishing rod. At least, the narrator says its old. Someone could've just left it there to duck into the water for a bit, but that wouldn't really advance the storyline much, now would it? B1 gets tangled in the fishing wire, and as B2 is coming to his rescue, he brushes against a bit of taut wire and it makes a sound very much like a guitar string. Um, no, you guys. I doubt that very much. B2 is so interested in the sound that bit of the wire makes, he just kinda leaves B1 caught up in the rest of it. Good lookin' out, B1. Then of course, we get the famous exchange:

B1: Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1?
B2: I think I am, B2.
Both: It's fix-it time!


The Teddies are at home preparing for their barbecue. Amy is cutting up planks of wood, Lulu is emptying the pots and pans they used to make the sandcaste (so they can cook with them? Ew, Teddies, that's so not how we do things in the real world) and Morgan is sweeping up all the sand. It seems like it would've been easier if Lulu hadn't, I don't know, carried half the beach in her pots and pans. How much sand could there really be? The narrator informs us that Amy's sawing, Lulu's banging and Morgan's sweeping is making a pretty rhythmic sound. They are, in fact, Getting Rhythm, as the title suggests. After all, if it's good enough for Johnny Cash, it's good enough for the Teddies. Morgan declares that they sound "fantastic", which I daresay is a bit of an overstatement. Of course, this is the Teddies we're talking about, so they all cheer and support each others' musicality. What a great place to live.

The Bananas are at home making new strings for the guitar out of fishing wire. Would that actually work in real life? I'm gonna go with no. They finish up and go over to the stairs so they can sit down and play it. They kind-of have to squish up uncomfortably close in order to fit on the one step, and after all the spanking on the beach, am I the only one who wants to see them in separate rooms for a bit? Apparently fishing line is an excellent substitute for guitar strings, although B2 does have to tune it a little. I like that B2 knows how to play the guitar. That's a nice (if not decidedly out-of-the-blue) character trait for him.

Together (B1 plucking the strings, B2 doing the chord work) they beat out the very first line from what I remember to be their song from the Take One episode, where they recorded their very own song. Which for those of you at home, went a little somethin' like this:

We're making music together
We're gonna be friends forever
Singing out our
favourite tune
Now you can play and sing along too
We're making music,
we're making mu-sic


Oh man, that song! The memories! I've just had a nostalgia overload! I think I need to lie down for a bit!

At the Teddies' place, Morgan is cooking the sausages, because only men may barbecue. Bananas in Pyjamas lesson of the day -- respect your gender roles. Amy is still sawing through that plank, and I have to wonder why it's really necessary to do that in the middle of a barbecue. Can't whatever you're building wait until after, Amy? Jeez.

The Bananas rock up with their new guitar, and the Teddies are hella impressed. Of course they are. The Bananas go ahead and play the first line from the Making Music Together song. Even after the second time, I'm still so excited. Morgan decides that he wants to be in the band too (way to drink the Kool-Aid, Morgan) and starts sweeping along in rhythm to the song. Amy starts her neverending sawing again, and Lulu goes back to banging on the pots. Lulu thinks they should call their band the Pots and Pans Sand Band, and everyone cheers, despite the fact that it's kind of excluding them all. Kinda like Bon Jovi, or the Steve Miller Band. Lulu and her fucking pots and pans aren't even the main event! How rude can you get?

The episode ends with the narrator saying, "...and while they waited for their sausages to cook, the Pots and Pans Sand Band played on and on." You can keep calling it that, Narrator, but that name's never going to stick. I don't believe they were called that in the upcoming music-related episodes, mainly because by that time they've all swapped instruments and there's nary a pot, pan or grain of sand in sight. Thank goodness for small mercies.


Put a put of tea on the boil and crack out the scones, because next time ABC Not-Just-For-Kids goes British with T-Bag and the Pearls Of Wisdom!

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