- "Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded."
Airdate: September 27, 2023
In this episode made to promote the Happy Tree Friends crossover with The Crackpet Show, Pop and Cub visit the store. When Cub is left on his own and watches the titular show, he begins to imitate what he sees on TV. It is the first Happy Tree Friends episode produced since the five-episode Still Alive package from 2016.
"Too Much Scream Time" provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: It wouldn't be a Happy Tree Friends episode without it. Lumpy uses an arrow to unclog a toilet (which was mistaken as a plunger because of Pop switching them to keep Cub safe), which would travel the pipes and violently impale Handy from the toilet across the stall. Cub shoots a plunger out of the bow, which causes a chain reaction resulting in the deaths of Cuddles, Disco Bear, and Pop.
- Artistic License – Engineering: As Lumpy tries to unclog a toilet with an arrow, said arrow somehow manages to impale Handy.
- Ass Shove: Poor Handy has an arrow shoved in him while using the toilet.
- Book Ends: The short begins with Pop having stomach problems from eating his burrito. In the end, Lumpy eats Pop's burrito and begins to experience the same thing.
- The Bus Came Back: This is Giggles' first physical appearance in an episode since "Spare Tire", not counting the bonus "Blood Donor" short.
- The Cameo:
- Outside what is shown on the display TV, The Crackpet Show characters Cowie and Sharky appear as decoration on the sides of the TV and as dolls.
- Truffles can be seen at one of the shop doorways during the shot of Cub's perspective before zooming in to the display TV.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: Whatever Lumpy sees in a stall previously used by Pop... it is enough to need a plunger for.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: After Disco Bear gets cleaved in two, you can see his pupils move to look at Giggles... somehow.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Disco Bear get split in two, courtesy of a closing shutter door he was standing under.
- Karmic Death: Pop's irresponsible behavior of leaving his baby son unsupervised twice (along with stealing Lumpy's plunger) ultimately leads to his demise.
- Limited Sound Effects: All audio in this episode are reused from past Happy Tree Friends works. Notably, all voices are reused from the pre-TV series shorts (discounting Pop who has always been this way since his VA left), as shown by the names of people no longer involved with the show, Dana Belben and Rhode Montijo.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Lumpy works in mall cleaning service in this short.
- Pinball Projectile: The plunger handle fired by Cub first pierces through Cuddles and bounces off a box, then hits a button that closes a barbershop's shutter door (which kills Disco Bear) before piercing through Pop.
- Product Placement: A commercial for The Crackpet Show plays near the end of the episode right after Lumpy picks up the unclaimed burrito.
- Pun-Based Title: The short's title is a pun of "too much screen time."
- Recycled Soundtrack: To go with Limited Sound Effects above. Soundtrack from "A Hole Lotta Love", "A Sucker for Love Pt. 1", and "Going Out with a Bang" are used in this short.
- Rule of Three: Cub kills three Tree Friends with a plunger: Cuddles, Disco Bear and Pop.
- Running Gag:
- Pop eating his burrito. It comes full circle in the end when the remains of his brains take the shape of the ends of his burrito and Lumpy eats it without knowing.
- Not to forget the usual frustrated Handy gag. Here, he somehow managed to hold a newspaper (which covers his lack of hands) but when it came to grabbing toilet paper, he was unable to.
- Self-Made Orphan: Cub ends up killing his father with the plunger Pop used to replace the arrow. Unfortunately, the plunger stick pulled off some fatal trick shots in the lead up to Pop’s death.
- Take That!: If you look closely, This episode is taking a jab at parents who let their kids watch seemingly innocent shows that are actually far from innocent, and kids that imitate what they see. (Does that remind you of anyone?)
- They Killed Kenny Again: Handy, Cuddles, Disco Bear, and Pop die in this episode.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Lumpy, Giggles, and Cub survive the episode.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Much of the short has been known in advance through the promotional trailer, but the worst offender is the clip included with The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition Downloadable Content, which fully showcases the last third of the short minus the game's footage on the display TV. "Too Much Scream Time" is already short as it is, meaning much of the basic plot is known prior to the actual premiere of the short.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The theme of this short, Played for Laughs naturally. Cub ends up exposed to The Crackpet Show and tries to copy the game's gunplay using bow and arrow (the latter then replaced with plunger), of course with predictably bloody results.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Disco Bear, for the first time since his debut over twenty years ago, seems to actually be wooing Giggles with his new haircut. Of course, he then gets split in half by one of the store's collapsible doors.
