| Bee Afraid | Gallery | Transcript |
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"Bee Afraid" is the fourth segment of the first season of The Mighty B! that aired on April 27, 2008.[1]
Contents
Summary
Bessie tries her best to quell her fear of the woods in order to earn the Happy Camper Badge.[2]
Plot
Bessie is the only Honeybee in her troop who doesn't have the Happy Camper Badge. That's because every summer at the annual Honeybee Campout, Bessie gets petrified of sleeping in the woods and goes home.
Bessie decides that it's finally time for her to get it. She packs up her things and heads out into the woods.
Portia, Gwen and Penny don't want Bessie to get the badge so they try to scare her into leaving the woods with various methods, such as playing animal sounds through a boombox and doing hand puppets of animals. Even Mrs. Gibbons assists the girls in their plan.
Despite several attempts, Bessie is still out in the woods. To scare her even further, the girls decide to tell each other scary stories, with Mary Frances chiming in that Bessie won't receive the badge if she doesn't participate.
Portia proceeds to tell the story of a woman who did not get married until her late 20s due to her taste in fashion, but Bessie finds the story humorous as opposed to scary, with Portia angry her plan failed. Then, Penny tells a scary story of a child snatched up by a witch, but it makes a frightened Portia run away instead, with even Mary Frances in a catatonic state from Penny's story.
Bessie tries to find Portia in the woods, but screams upon seeing trees and thinking about Penny's story. However, once she realizes the trees and animals in the forest won't hurt her, she continues searching for Portia.
Meanwhile, Portia relaxes on a bean bag, only to find out it was a sleeping bear named Bill. Portia angers him with her insults as Bessie comes to the rescue, and she gives the bear 2 boxes of taffy in exchange for sparing Portia. The bear believes Bessie should get the Happy Camper Badge after he takes it from Portia, but she refuses at first.
However, the sun rises and as Bessie managed to stay in the woods the entire night, she gets the Happy Camper Badge after all. Portia literally disintegrates from stress where several woodland creatures eats her as the episode ends.
Cast
| Voice actor | Roles |
|---|---|
| Amy Poehler | Bessie |
| Dee Bradley Baker | Happy & Bill the Bear |
| Dannah Feinglass | Penny |
| Jessica DiCicco | Gwen |
| Grey DeLisle | Portia |
| Sarah Thyre | Mary Frances Gibbons |
Trivia
General
- The book Bessie is reading is called Gift of Fear.
- Live action footage is shown for the first time in the series, signifying the sky entering night.
- It's revealed that Bessie's mom Hilary has a red camper.
- While panicked, Bessie claims to love birthday parties, picnics, puppies, rainbows and tacos.
- Portia is capable of hand shadowing, using her hands to make animals.
- Takes place in the winter, as Bessie mentions going to a haunted house this year.
- Premiered as part of the Mighty Weekend block.
Cultural references
- Title refers to the movie tagline "be afraid - be very afraid" which became popular after its use in The Fly.
- The font is a reference to Twin Peaks.
- Bessie reminds herself "there's nothing to fear but fear itself," a quote popularized (but not invented) by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- Mary Frances' car horn plays La Cucaracha.
- When Bessie punches a tree in her Mighty B form, she says boxer Muhammad Ali's famous "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" quote, only in reverse.
Production information
- This episode was only the second produced, as it has the production code of 101B.[3]
Goofs
- Bessie told Portia that they are now both Happy Campers, even though Bessie took her badge, although Portia probably got another badge after that.
- When Gwen calls Bessie a big baby, her sleeves are long.
References
- ↑ Rusak, Gary (April 9, 2008). One-liners: Noteworthy news nuggets. Kidscreen. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
- ↑ PR Newswire (April 8, 2008). Bee Prepared To Catch the Buzz When The Mighty B! Flies to Nickelodeon Saturday, April 26, at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT). Business Insider. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ↑ Gase-Baker, Jenny (May 24, 2008). (no title). BlogSpot.com. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
