Next up, special #4: Strawberry Shortcake's Housewarming Party.
The first thing you'll notice is that they switched animation studios from Murakami Wolf Swenson to Nelvana. The character designs look a little better and the animation has a slight improvement, so it goes from really dated to somewhat dated. Not much, but it's still an improvement nonetheless. Also, Mr. Sun has a different voice. He sounds a little like the original, but it's still noticeable to where you can go, "Oh, they got a new voice actor." But the biggest change is the fact that Strawberry is moving into a mansion in this special. Yeah, I don't know where she got the means to do that either, but it's a Merchandise-Driven cartoon, after all.
While they're packing everything up for Strawberry's big move, she takes the time to show off slides of her trip around the world. First up is Cafe Ole and her donkey Burrito, who teaches her dance moves. Then there's Almond Tea and her Panda, Marza Panda. That said, Almond almost looks like a boy here. She's one of the few international friends to return in the 2003 reboot later on, albeit under a different name, which is Tea Blossom. Also, her updated look made it more clear about what gender she is.
Next up is Mint Tulip and her pet duck, Marshmallow. Mint's name is a play on a type of alcoholic drink called mint julep. They're eating chocolate over there. Next up is Crepes Suzette and her poodle, Eclair. In typical fashion, Pupcake gets the hots for the poodle. By the way, this character returns in the 2003 version with a different look as well. Finally are the twins, Lem and Ada, who are babies. So this is basically Free-Range Children in effect. Strawberry says she couldn't tell them apart without their dog, Sugarwoofer. Not really, the girl always wears a bow on her head while the boy wears a cap.
After the slideshow, her friends decide to finish packing up everything for the big move. We're treated to a quick moment where Pupcake tries to pull a box while Huckleberry Pie is sitting on it, and manages to succeed, causing Huck to fall off in the process. The opening credits and intro song plays and we get a montage of stuff being moved out of Strawberry's house and loaded onto moving vehicles.
After that ends, we drop in on The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak. Sour Grapes has also moved in. Yeah, They're gonna get along just fine... The Pieman has come up with a new plan, and Sour Grapes goes, "Surely, you don't intend to top my villany?" Given that your last plan sucked ass and only worked because everyone misplaced their common sense when they woke up this morning, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Back in Strawberryland, everything's packed and she's off to her new house. Blueberry Muffin and Lime Chiffon get the idea to invite Strawberry's friends to a housewarming party and that they can share any recipes to together. Unknown to both of the girls a berry bird eavesdrops on them and repeats what he overheard to the Pieman. In English. Really. He took the time to teach them how to speak, then eavesdrop on conversations and report back to him. In fact, they'll repeat anything anyone says. As he starts to dance, the squawking of the birds interrupts and shoos them off to get more info. Sour Grapes tells the Pieman that if they steal the recipes at the housewarming party, they can make their own cookbook. Well, this is an improvement over what happened last time, at least.
We then cut to her new house, and, I have to say, it's actually pretty impressive. They take the in the sights of their new area on the balcony and Strawberry tells Custard not to get lost on the way to the bathroom. Custard turns her nose up in digust. Finding the litter box isn't that hard, Custard.
Strawberry wishes that her friends would be here to see the whole house, and right on cue the door knocks and she answers. Lime shows up not only with all of her international friends, she's met, but her best friends as well and we're treated to another song about the friends and what they brought to the party. Also, Custard gets confused by the Chinese handwriting during the song at one point. As it ends, Lem and Ada appear last, and they are capable of speaking perfect English. What's with the Brainy Babies? First Apple Dumplin's handwriting, then Apricot having the ability to only speak big words, and now this?
The Pieman sneaks around and learns where the recipes are kept, and decides to sneak in the house while Strawberry and her friends play hide and seek. He finds the picnic basket which contains all of the recipes, but also notices the food and decides to chow down on it before doing so. Strawberry hasn't found any of her friends and the last place she decides to check is the kitchen. The Pieman hears her voice and decides to hide, so he decides to spray whipped cream over him and stand still until she leaves. Custard and Strawberry immediately notices something suspicious and thinks it's one of her friends, but then notices it's the Pieman. Also, all of her friends were hiding in the same spot. They must've practiced in a clown car or something.
The Pieman flees with the box of recipes, while clumsily balancing on a nearby tricycle, and Strawberry breaks down in tears -
Wait, no. She decides to give chase instead and pursue the Pieman on a speedy bouncing worm named Philbert Wormy III. Now this is more like it! Oh, and Lem and Ada were still hiding in the box, so not only did he steal recipes from children, he also kidnapped two babies in the process. Only Mr. Sun knows about this, but clouds start to overwhelm him when he tries to give Strawberry the news. Strawberry and Philbert take a shortcut and successfully head him off at the pass when they arrive at his hideout. However, Sour Grapes threatens to turn the worm into whale bait, making him scared and allowing the Pieman to escape. Also, Dregs wraps around her mouth while she tries to yodel. Two annoying Character Tics interruped in one special. This is already better than what I've seen so far. =)
Strawberry gets depressed and apologies to her friends for letting them down. However, they notice Captain Cackle spying on them and repeating everything they say. Strawberry decides to teach him and the rest of the flock berry talk via a song to drive him nuts, and they fly back to the Pieman's palace. When he asks for a report, he's bombarded with berry talk to the point that he decides to give the basket back. However, Sour Grapes refuses to do so and they both lose the basket, which goes through exterior of the palace Rube Goldberg-style before landing on an empty soda bottle.
Mr. Sun gets rid of the clouds and tells Strawberry they have to recover the basket as Lem and Ada are trapped up there. But there's no way to reach it. The berry birds come after Pieman and Grapes with more berry talk and decide to give the basket back to Strawberry. Meanwhile, Strawberry and co. come up with a plan of their own and Philbert acts as a staircase while her friends act as a Human Ladder to reach the picnic basket. But it's barely out of her reach until the Pieman and Grapes use dregs to give the basket back to Strawberry. He's then punished with Sour Grapes's annoying yodeling for being a spineless coward. With the recipes and Lem and Ada safe, the party resumes and we end with one last sappy song like we always do, and that's the end of that. That last song is annoying though, because it's sung in a very high pitch.
All things considered, this was much better than the last one. In fact, it's the best special I've seen so far. Oh, and I know I tend to complain about how sappy the songs are, but 2003's are embarrassingly saccharine at times. You'll see what I mean when we get there. We still have two more specials after this, so stick around!
