History Recap / PeteAndPeteS0E4WhatWeDidOnOurSummerVacation

* KidsVersusAdults: Little Pete and his occupation of the high dive of the municipal pool as his guard spot on his quest for Tastee, against the local lifeguard, Den Cleary. The lifeguard begs Big Pete to help talk Little Pete down, but he chooses instead to reinforce his brother's determination, driving the lifeguard crazy.

* SlasherSmile: Captain Scrummy delivers one to Pete after pressuring him into buying one of his "Sludgesicle" bars. Pete wisely decides not to eat it.

* SlasherSmile: Captain Scrummy delivers one to Pete after pressuring him into taking one of his "Sludgesicle" bars. Pete wisely decides not to eat it.

* [[UnclePennybags Aunt Pennybags]]: The mysterious blind millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere, who became a little eccentric after her husband or lover, Leonard, left her. [[spoiler:Leonard is implied to be the man under the Mr. Tastee mask.]]

* TheCameo: [[Music/{{REM}} Michael Stipe]] as Captain Scrummy, the sleazy beach ice cream vendor, and [[Music/TheB52s Kate Pierson]] as the blind millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere, [[spoiler:who may have been Mr. Tastee's wife or lover before he put on the ice cream mask]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As with the other specials, several sides of the characters show up here but were dropped when ''The Adventures of Pete and Pete'' went to series. For example, when was the large ship tattoo in little Pete's back mentioned again ([[spoiler: not counting the ClipShow in "Farewell, My Little Viking" since it was mostly visual)]]?

* KidsVersusAdults: Little Pete and his occupation of the high dive of the municipal pool as his guard spot on his quest for Tastee, against the local lifeguard, Den Cleary. [[spoiler:The lifeguard begs Big Pete to help talk Little Pete down, but he chooses instead to reinforce his brother's determination, driving the lifeguard crazy.]]

Summer would be just as sticky as it gets thanks to the heat. But it means at least three things for the kids in Wellsville: no school, having some fun in the water at the pool or the beach, and ice cream provided by the mysterious ice cream vendor Mr. Tastee, who appears every summer, like clockwork, on the first day of the season.

But, what brings such a beloved ice cream man as Mr. Tastee to the neighborhood? Ellen, who takes a summer job at a local photo booth, discovers through some photos left for development that the 'smiling' ice cream vendor is all alone in the world. It's hard to believe that a man who brings happiness to the local children would be so lonely, so she and the Petes try to offer him their friendship, only to be rejected by the embarrassed Mr. Tastee... who disappears the next day.

The kids spend the rest of the summer trying to both track down Mr. Tastee and learn why he disappeared, and they get a lead when Artie, engaged in a staring contest with a bee while climbing a water tower, spotted his truck somewhere in Kentucky. Ellen monitors other photo booth client pictures for clues to Mr. Tastee's whereabouts, Little Pete takes a guard spot on the high dive at the Splankton Municipal Pool (to the dismay of the lifeguard, whom Little Pete has a history of antagonising), and Big Pete tries to get information from other people who may have known him.

All the while, the summer heat gets more and more intense, and with no ice cream to beat the heat, the local kids begin hallucinating that Mr. Tastee has returned.

On a trip to the beach, Big Pete is told by sleazy ice cream vendor Captain Scrummy that he and his friends should have let Mr. Tastee be; he explains that many ice cream vendors are fleeing tragic pasts, and that the kids' friendship would just awaken bad memories. Meanwhile, the Petes' dad, Don Wrigley, finds a working 1978 Oldsmobile buried in the sand with his metal detector and drives the family home in it.

The summer days get shorter, and still no sign of Mr. Tastee. One night in September, with the Petes and Ellen deciding to put an end to their quest, the mysterious ice cream vendor appears at the local photo booth, having found their trail... and having not picked up his photos from earlier in the summer. The kids accept that he is just the ice cream vendor who appears in Wellsville every summer rather than a friend, but Mr. Tastee agrees that ''maybe'' he could be a little bit friendlier with the kids without causing his job performance to suffer. He invites them to help him wax his truck and his ice cream mask.

* [[UnclePennybags Aunt Pennybags]]: The mysterious blind millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere, who became a little eccentric after her husband or lover, Leonard, left her. [[spoiler:Leonard is implied to be the man under the Mr. Tastee mask.]].

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: While Big Pete is narrating, Little Pete starts acting out in the background, making faces in the car's rearview mirror, and even sleeping at the top of the car.

!!"What We Did On Our Summer Vacation" provides examples of:

"''What We Did On Our Summer Vacation''" is the fourth[[note]](Second according to this [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315367,00.html article]], that says it was aired on September 8th, 1991 as part of a 'back to school special')[[/note]] special of "''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete''" before it was fully comissioned by Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} to become a full TV series. It was written by Will [=McRobb=] (though he was uncredited) and was originally aired in May 1992.

Ah, Summer. \\
\\
Summer would be just as sticky as it gets thanks to the heat. But, at least there is no school, isn't it? It means at least three things for the kids in Wellsville: 1) no school, 2) having some fun in th water, say, a public pool or the beach and, 3) ice cream provided by your local yet mysterious ice cream vendor that appears every summer, at punctual, the first day that kicks up the season.

But, what it is exactly that brings up a quite extraordinaire ice cream man as Mr. Tastee to the neighborhood? Ask Ellen, who takes a summer job at a local photo booth, and sudden discovers that the 'smiling' ice cream vendor is really a lone man, thanks to some photos he left at the local. It's hard to beleive that a man who brings happiness to the local children would be so lonely, right? She, and with help of the Petes, try to open his 'heart', befriending him. However, it's exactly ''this'' what makes him flee out of the town.

This is the main motivation for the kids to start a quest on his whereabouts for all the rest of the Summer. Not only to know where he ''is'', but to know a reason of ''why'' he did it. Up until Artie spotted his truck somewhere in Kentucky, this is what motivates them to keep looking for him. Ellen's center station would have been the photo booth to find out if Mr. Tastee's truck was located somewhere in the pictures of other clients; little Pete would take a guard spot on the high dive at the Splankton Municipal Pool, only to ultimately bother the lifeguard and drive him into insanity; big Pete would be doing his best role: getting information from other people who may have known him.

And then, the heat hits harder in its own climax.\\
\\
In a sole trip to the beach, meanwhile big Pete was doing his own part of the quest with another ice cream vendor, giving him the reason of why kids shouldn't become too close to them, his dad found a a car buried on the sand with help of his metal detector, which new and all, they take it home.

However, Summer starts to fade, and they still couldn't find Mr. Tastee. One night in September, officially calling it for a closure in their quest in the command post of Ellen, the mysterious ice cream vendor appears in the local photo booth, after finding their quest track... and to get the pictures he left in there. The kids, at the end, had made peace with him being just the ice cream vendor that appears ever one of the summers to do his own job and not their friend, however, Tastee agrees on the aspect that ''maybe'' he could be a little bit friendlier with the kids, not affecting his job at all. And invites them to help him wax his truck.

As the night is finally making its call, Tastee asks the kids to take a Polaroid picture with him, just because of the fun memories they made him live, at least during the afternoon, for the rest of the time he drives away from Wellsville until next Summer. It didn't mattered the mystery that surrounded him, after all. Maybe, it was for the best that there was stuff that should stay that way, after all.

!!"''What We Did On Our Summer Vacation''" provides examples of:

* FiveFiveFive: The number that is displayed in the missing posters. This is, however, edited in the reruns and DVD to avoid prank callers since the number, could have existed.
* ActingForTwo: A little bit more in the side of going economical, Toby Huss, aka Artie, was the man below Tastee. You can note it thanks to his acting mannerisms. And could have been his voice. But in other scenes, the man below the ice cream cone head wasn't him but an extra. At this point in life, more than 20 years later after filming this, neither [=McRobb=] nor Viscardi remember who was the man who also used the head.
** However, this also develops some WildMassGuessing around Tastee being, maaaaaaybe Artie, too.
* [[UnclePennybags Aunt Pennybags]]: The mysterious millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere... who is blind. Who becomes a little... eccetric after her husband or lover went away... Leonard... [[spoiler: who is implied to be Mr. Tastee's former persona]].
* BadHumorTruck: As deeper and deeper that the Petes and Ellen dig about info on Tastee, they find out that maybe he used his Ice Cream Truck as an escape of an implied sad reality he might have lived in the past. Even Captain Scrummy implies that the ice cream vendors should not become friendly with their customers, for the same reason, that makes them remember something they might have already forgot.
* {{Beachcombing}}: How Don finds out the old 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme car with his metal-detector, that was buried in the sand. Doubles, also, because that is the way he met Joyce when they were young.
* TheCameo: [[Music/{{REM}} Michael Stipe]] as Captain Scrummy, the ice cream vendor of the beach, and [[Music/TheB52s Kate Pierson]] as the blind millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere [[spoiler:who could have been the former wife or lover of Tastee... before he took his full ice-cream vendor persona]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As some other stuff in the other specials... say... when was the last time the large ship tattoo in little Pete's back was mentioned again ([[spoiler: not counting the ClipShow in "''Farewell, My Little Viking''" since it was mostly visual)]]?
* EditedForSyndication: All the specials suffered the same treat when Nickelodeon comissioned a full season: the title sequence and credits were added to be more 'sequential'' with the rest of season one.
** However, this episode suffered a little bit more than the others since the music of several musicians (such as Music/{{REM}}, Baby Flamehead, Poi Dog Pondering, Music/{{Ministry}}, Jody Grind, and Shackwacky) were abruptly changed to do licensing. Katherine Dieckmann, the director of this special (and 3 of the others, and also some other episodes of the show) agrees that it was a ''bad'' decision from Nickelodeon to do so.
** KeepCirculatingTheTapes? Sadly, this is a hard one to get their hands onto... especially if we are talking of some tape that should be more than 20 years old, and not a rerun that got aired later.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Meanwhile the older Pete is narrating, little Pete starts doing some stuff such as, making faces in the car's retrovisor mirror... and even sleeping at the top of the car.
* HeatWave: Granted, the whole speciall takes place in the Summer.
** And then, after Mr. Tastee dissapears from the town, the climax of the summer, and a potent heat wave was notorious. Kudos to little Pete, who mandatory (from his mom's own orders) had to use overlong-sleeves-shirts because of hiding Petunia... that really throws the heat sensation.
* KidsVersusAdults: Little Pete in his rebellious own way to occupy the high dive of the municipal pool as his guard spot on his quest for Tastee, against the local lifeguard, Den Cleary.
** [[spoiler: [[AwesomeMoments And big Pete helps his little brother]] to determine their spot and position, this ultimately drives the lifeguard crazy at the end]].
* ShoutOut: Mr. Tastee is definitely inspired in Mr. Softee, a local New York ice cream vendor truck.

* ActingForTwo: A little bit more in the side of going economical, Toby Huss, aka Artie, was the man below Tastee. You can note it thanks to his acting mannerisms. And voice. But in other scenes, the man below the ice cream cone head wasn't him but an extra. At this point in life, more than 20 years later after filming this, neither [=McRobb=] nor Viscardi remember who was the man who also used the head.

* ShoutOut: Mr. Tastee is definitely the in-series equivalent of Mr. Softee.

* ActingForTwo: A little bit more in the side of going economical, Toby Huss, aka Artie, was the man below Tastee. You can note it thanks to his acting mannerisms. And voice. But in other scenes, the man below the ice cream cone head wasn't him but an extra. At this point in life,more than 20 years later after filming this, neither [=McRobb=] nor Viscardi remember who was also using the head.

* TheCameo: [[Music/{{REM}} Michael Stipe]] as Captain Scrummy, the ice cream vendor of the beach, and [[Music/TheB52s Kate Pierson]] as the blind millionaire, Mrs. Van Devere [[spoiler:who could have been the former wife of Tastee... before he took his full persona]].

Summer would be just as sticky as it gets thanks to the heat. But, at least there is no school, isn't it? It means at least three things for the kids in Wellsville: 1) no school, 2) having some fun in th water, say, a public pool or the beach and, 3) ice cream provided by your local yet mysterious ice cream vendor that appears every summer, at punctual, the first day the kicks up the season.

But what it is exactly that brings up a quite extraordinaire ice cream vendor as Mr. Tastee to the neighborhood? Ask Ellen, who takes a summer job at a local photo booth, and sudden discovers that the 'smiling' ice cream vendor is really a lone man, thanks to some photos he left at the local. It's hard to beleive that a man who brings happiness to the local children would be so lonely, right? She, and with help of the Petes, try to open his 'heart', befriending him. However, it's exactly ''this'' what makes him flee out of the town.

This is the main motivation for the kids to start a quest

"''What We Did On Our Summer Vacation''" is the fourth[[note]]Second according to this [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315367,00.html article]] says it was aired on September 8th, 1991 as part of a 'back to school special'[[/note]] special of "''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete''" before it was fully comissioned by Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} to become a full TV series. It was written by Will [=McRobb=] (though he was uncredited) and was originally aired in May 1992.