| No Smoking | |
|---|---|
| Season 0, Episode 1 | |
| |
| Air date | November 12, 1995 |
| Storyboard by | |
| Written by | David Feiss Pilar Feiss Sam Keith |
| Directed by | David Feiss |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous |
Next Field Trip to Folsom Prison |
No Smoking is the pilot episode of the Cow and Chicken series, which aired as part of the What A Cartoon! showcase on November 12, 1995.
Synopsis[]
Cow catches Chicken smoking and tells him that if he doesn't play with her, she'll tell Mom and Dad. Meanwhile in Hell, The Devil looks to recruit a new member to torture.
Plot[]
The episode starts off with Chicken watching TV. Cow keeps interrupting Chicken's television program, wanting to play a game. After a while, he accepts when Cow threatens to tell Mom and Dad she's discovered her brother's cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the Red Guy (known as the Devil in this episode) describes to the audience his pleasure of causing disasters around the world and choosing people, who make bad choices, to bring down to Hell, and he, of course, picks Cow and Chicken, who are suggested by Cerberus. The Devil watches the two siblings playing rocket ship in the backyard on his TV screen, and, when he realizes that since Cow is a "big Character", he decides that he is better off kidnapping Chicken instead. Cerberus reminds him of the rules, and The Devil fixes that by offering a cigarette pack to Chicken and so takes the elevator up to the backyard where Cow and Chicken are playing. Arriving in the backyard, the Devil tempts Chicken with a cigarette pack, and he then kidnaps him to hell for trying to smoke tobacco products underage.
Down in Hell, the Devil forces Chicken to smoke a giant cigarette. Cigarette ashes wind up in Chicken's beak, and then the Devil tries to clean them out with exaggerated and torturous methods. Shortly after, SuperCow comes in and stops The Devil from tormenting and torturing Chicken in Hell forever. Afterwards, Cow and Chicken argue at the dinner table while Mom and Dad talk about them.
Characters[]
Major Roles[]
Minor Roles[]
Trivia[]
- This is the pilot episode and overall, first episode of the series. As such, it features the debut of Cow and Chicken, as well as Mom, Dad, and the Red Guy.
- Chicken watches pro-wrestling on TV, as indicated by the announcer saying "Ladies and gentlemen, the match of the year!" as well as the screen showing a Character beating someone up. Later, the show apparently goes to a commercial break as it shows a salesman advertising toilet paper.
- Chicken smokes cigarettes and hides his ash tray in his underwear drawer.
- This episode introduces Cow's superhero secret identity, Supercow.
- The Red Guy goes by "The Devil" in this episode and plays the role of the ruler of Hell.
- Cow has been refilling an empty milk carton with her own milk ever since February 7th, 1984 and Chicken didn't know he'd been drinking his sister's milk until this episode.
- This episode reveals what Mom and Dad's full bodies look like. In a surprise un-twist, they only exist from the waist down.
- Due to this episode being banned after its first airing, the general populous is unaware of this, making Mom and Dad's full appearances a widely unsolved mystery. The creators still wanted the world to know about Mom and Dad's appearances so several episodes throughout the series subtly allude to Mom and Dad not having top halves, hoping that people would get the message.
- According to a piece of concept art, the Red Guy's assistant was originally going to be an alligator before being replaced by Cerberus.[1]
Production Notes[]
- This episode aired on the What a Cartoon! block on November 12th, 1995, two years before the series officially debuted with series premiere "Field Trip to Folsom Prison" on July 15th, 1997.
- David Feiss animated the entire pilot himself at Hanna-Barbera (with the ink-and-paint/camera work being handled by H-B's Filipino-based division Fil-Cartoons). The main series would have Rough Draft Studios in Korea handling the animation.
- This episode was banned after its original airing due the plot involving Chicken smoking cigarettes, as well as its depictions of Hell (though it's never mentioned by name) and such religious figures as the Red Guy and Cerberus. The creators insist that this episode is in no way intended to teach kids to smoke. Quite the reverse, as the moral of the story is that Chicken should not be smoking, or else he'll die and go to Hell. Nevertheless, the network still banned the episode, as they believed this to be "too heavy" of a subject matter to be dealing with in a show for kids.
- The storyboard for the pilot was completed on October 20, 1994.[2]
Errors[]
- The Devil erroneously refers to Cow as a male, calling her a "Character" and "Mr. Supercow". However, Mom correctly addresses her as female, addressing her as "Chickens's litter sister".
- Cow was somehow able to refill a milk carton ever since 1984, despite being born in 1988.