- "Adopt a pet!"
Airdate: June 2, 2000
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" is the fifteenth episode of the first (internet) season of Happy Tree Friends.
A pirate sea otter named Russell is fishing at the pier while snacking on mussels. He unknowingly grabs a puffer fish, just in time for his fishing line to begin unreeling. He swallows the fish before reeling in his catch. Suddenly, the puffer fish in his throat puffs up, cutting off his air. His fishing line also breaks apart, forcing him to pull his catch with both hands. Both hands get ripped off in the process, so he resorts to using his mouth, causing a cut on his lip. At the end, he manages to reel in his catch, a huge swordfish that ends up impaling his head through his mouth. The puffer fish in his throat deflates, letting out a very squeaky "Yarr!".
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" contains the following:
- An Arm and a Leg: Russell loses both his normal hand and his Hook Hand during his struggle in reeling his catch.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Russell's head gets impaled by a swordfish.
- Debut Queue: Russell makes his debut in this episode.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Russell is introduced with a full title of "Russell the Pirate". Like Splendid, later episodes after his debut drop his title.
- Russell is depicted with a five o' clock shadow.
- Russell notably lacks his flat tail in this episode.
- Russell's voice in this episode is much higher pitched compared to his other appearances.
- Establishing Character Moment: Russell's association with the seas rather than the forest, opening up more sources of danger.
- Furry Reminder: Aside from his obvious Trademark Favorite Food, Russell cracks open a mussel with his chest like a real sea otter.
- Helium Speech: Simulated with the puffer fish deflating in Russell's throat at the end of the episode, letting out a high-pitched "Yarr!".
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Russell's fate at the end of the episode.
- Oh, Crap!: Russell's reaction when he realizes that his catch is huge and flying towards him.
- Perma-Stubble: Russell has a five o' clock shadow in this episode.
- Shout-Out: The episode's title has the same name as a certain TV show.
- Trauma Conga Line: Throughout the episode, Russell chokes on an inflated puffer fish, loses both his normal hand and his hook hand, and gains cuts on his lips before he finally dies by impalement by his own catch.
- Unexplained Recovery: Despite gaining a cut, Russell's lip turns normal after he lets go of the rod from his lip. The animators do not seem to bother keeping the cut lip.
- Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: In the opening, the episode's title is incorrectly written as "Who's Line Is It Anyway?".
