"The Break In" is the first episode of the first season of Recess, as well as the pilot episode of the series; it premiered on ABC through a sneak peek on August 31st, 1997, officially premiering as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning on September 13th of the same year. This episode is a finalized version of the series' pilot episode.
Plot[]
Spoiler Warning: Plot twists, ending details, etc. are included in the plot. You have been warned.Summary[]
T.J. Detweiler is punished with no recess after an unsuccessful attempt of his gang to raid the kitchen's "good food"; seeing how deranged he has become; the rest of his friends try to break him out by enlisting the help of the other students on the playground.
Main Story[]
The show starts with lunch, which is an inedible and volatile Tomato Surprise, a boy named T.J. Detweiler decides to try and get to the good food kept in one of the freezers in the kitchen before the cafeteria. However, he ends up being caught by a teacher named Muriel Finster and is punished with no recess.
Seeing T.J. in distress, the gang tries to break him out without getting caught by Miss Finster or Randall, who is the school snitch.
They first turn to The Diggers, asking if they can help dig T.J. out of detention, to which they agree to, but end up getting into conflict between each other. Realizing this, the gang moves on to get help from the Swinger Girl, in hopes that she might help meet their cause. Unfortunately, while swinging, she ends up flying forward and injuring herself.
Seeing no other option, the gang turn to the Kindergartners, trying to reason with them. However, the little children make them flee by threatening to eat them. Finally, they turn to King Bob, who is the ruler of the playground. King Bob refuses to help, calling T.J. "some dumb kid". An offended Ashley Spinelli then gives a speech, calling everyone including King Bob "some dumb kid". King Bob then decides that "the dumb kid should be free" and mobilizes his entire dominion (Third Street School) to work together to break in and save T.J..
However, by the time the gang succeeds, T.J. has already busted himself out by then. Moreover, just as he whoops in celebration, he finds out that the gang is in the lunchroom (where he was being held captive). Unfortunately, recess is over, and T.J. yells in despair. Nonetheless, after school, he praises the gang's efforts although they have not got to him on time. The gang consists of people such as Ashley Spinelli, Vince LaSalle, Gretchen Grundler, and Mikey Blumberg.
The Diggers finally finish digging, finding themselves at a schoolyard in China, as they are chased away by the kindergartners.
Timeline[]
- Before "The New Kid"
Goofs[]
Episode[]
- Coloring/continuity error: When T.J. and Spinelli first come out from under the table in the beginning of this episode, Spinelli's lips briefly turn the same color as her skin.
- Animation/audio error: When the Diggers appear for the first time, Dave is talking to the rest of the four main characters, however, the animation shows Sam talking.
- Animation/continuity error: When Gretchen first shows the aluminum foil to the Kindergartners, it has a shiny, "glow" effect on it. When the Kindergartners begin chasing them, the "glow" is gone.
- Animation/continuity error: When the doors to the kitchen are first shown, there are no signs on them. When the gang approach them, they have "DO NOT ENTER" signs on each of them.
- Animation/continuity error: When Spinelli says, "I'm in!" for T.J.'s plan, she is seen having one eyelash on both of her eyes for a few frames while she is blinking.
- Animation/continuity error: Spinelli has nostrils three times.
- When Spinelli plans an "admirable suggestion" for four members of the gang.
- When four members of the gang sees the Diggers fighting while they are trying to dig a hole.
- When Spinelli says to T.J. that she is sorry if she never got him in time.
- Animation/continuity error: When the students see the Swinger Girl being injured from swinging on-the-top, Spinelli has no eyebrows.
International Versions[]
French[]
- Editing error: When the "DO NOT ENTER" signs are first shown, they are left in English, but right before the camera pans to T.J., the signs are re-written in French. When T.J. goes through the doors, they are back in English.
- Editing error: The sign on the refrigerator that says, "THE GOOD FOOD", is translated in French when it is first shown, however, after T.J. touches it, it is back in English.
Trivia[]
Regular[]
- The clip with the Kindergartners using a rope to climb into the school was reused for the intro.
- Gus does not appear in this episode, making his first appearance in "The New Kid" (despite said episode being produced first), making this episode and "The Great Jungle Gym Stand Off" the only episodes where Gus does not make an appearance.
- When the kids are working together to break T.J. out of the cafeteria, a different version of the theme song to the series is played.
- This episode, along with its sister segment, is included as a bonus on the DVD of Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, and as a bonus on the Finnish VHS and DVD copy of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
- On the official One Saturday Morning Recess website, an audio clip of T.J. saying "Cover me, I'm going in" was included on T.J.'s character page, and video clips of Vince saying that a kid needs finesse to speak to someone of King Bob's stature, Spinelli telling King Bob that technically everyone is "Some dumb kid", and Gretchen trying to distract the Kindergartners were put on the character pages for Vince, Spinelli, and Gretchen respectively. The video clips were later put on the Toon Disney website when Recess joined the lineup in 2003.
- This episode was adapted into chapter book form for the book One Saturday Morning: Without Friends, You're Nothing in 1999, along with stories based on Disney's Doug and Pepper Ann.
- Some recordings, including the early ones, were heard in the Recess Gag Reel.
- Early recordings of the episode include the part where the gang were trying to make decisions to save T.J.[1] and the other when Cornchip Girl was referred as "Frito Girl" with Vince's slightly different line from the finished episode.[2]
- T.J. shouting "No, no, NO!" was heard in the reel, with Ross Malinger trying to shout it at first, then finally did it the next time.[3]
- One of the scenes involving around Randall and Miss Finster was heard in the reel, with Ryan O'Donohue and April Winchell doing a recording session together.[4]
Production Information[]
- The storyboards and animatic of the pilot episode were initially created in 1996 to get the show on the air but was redone with different character designs for the series proper. Selective portions of the animatic were fully animated by Disney's promotional department for pitching and promotional purposes, and as such, were included in an ABC Saturday Mornings promo (With 101 Dalmatians: The Series) on the 1997 VHS releases of 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Doug's Birthday Blues. They were also shown in station IDs for certain ABC stations.[5]
- Original recording for the episode, as well as audio production of the series, began on August 16th, 1996, with the first take being the part where four members of the gang were trying to make decisions to save T.J.[6]
- In the original recording for this episode, T.J.'s name was P.J. right before the pilot was animated; it was re-recorded due to his name changing.[7]
- This and "The New Kid" are the only Recess episodes to premiere in prime time.
- When this episode and "The New Kid" were shown on August 31st, 1997 as a sneak peek in prime time, the episodes were shown in the opposite order.
- Not every ABC affiliate aired the sneak peek, due to some stations still broadcasting news about Princess Diana's death.
- This episode was part of the debut of Disney's One Saturday Morning, along with the Pepper Ann episode "Ziterella".
- This episode, along with "The New Kid", were the only episodes written by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, the show's creators.
- Originally, one of Spinelli's plans was to break in using soda and pop rocks near the door. However, this clip was cut due to copyright infringement issues.[8][9]
Continuity[]
- This is the first appearance of the dish Tomato Surprise; it appeared again in the episode "The Terrifying Tales of Recess".
- The "Good Food" refrigerator makes its first appearance; it appeared again in the episode "The Girl Was Trouble".
- This is the first time where T.J. gets a detention.
- Along with most of the Recess gang, this episode marks the first appearances of Miss Finster, Randall, Guru Kid, Swinger Girl, Upside-Down Girl, The Diggers, King Bob, Cornchip Girl, and the Kindergartners.
- This is one of the only episodes where Spinelli is seen having at least one eyelash; the others being "First Name Ashley", "Swing on Thru to the Other Side", "Mama's Girl", and "Prickly Is Leaving". However, this and "Swing on Thru to the Other Side" are the only episodes where Spinelli is seen having one eyelash on both of her eyes (though, both of them happens for brief times). "First Name Ashley" and "Prickly Is Leaving" have Spinelli to have two eyelashes on each eye, and "Mama's Girl" has Spinelli to have only one eyelash on one of her eyes briefly during her eye zoom (though, this is an animation error).
Foreign Dub Titles[]
Note - Some dubs leave the title in English
- Dutch: "De uitbraak" ("The Break Out")
- French: "L'esprit de solidarité" ("The Spirit of Solidarity")
- German: "Der Einbruch" ("The Break In")
- Italian: "La Punizione" ("The Punishment")
- Japanese: "Ｔ.Ｊ.救出大作戦" ("Mission Rescue T.J.")
- Norwegian: "Innbruddet" ("The Break In")
- Polish: "Włamanie" ("Break In")
- Portuguese: "A Invasão" ("The Invasion")
- Spanish: "El Recreo" ("The Recess") (Spain)
- Latin Spanish; "El Rescate" ("The Rescue") (Latin America)
Cast[]
- T.J. Detweiler - Ross Malinger
- Vince LaSalle - Rickey D'Shon Collins
- Gretchen Grundler - Ashley Johnson
- Ashley Spinelli/Kindergartner #1/Chinese Kindergartner - Pamela Segall-Adlon
- Mikey Blumberg - Jason Davis
- Miss Finster - April Winchell
- Randall Weems/Digger Dave/Kid #2 - Ryan O'Donohue
- Guru Kid/Digger Sam - Klee Bragger
- Swinger Girl/Sixth Grader #2 - Francesca Smith
- King Bob - Toran Caudell
- Cornchip Girl - Anndi McAfee
- Sixth Grader #1/Kid #1 - Justin Shenkarow
- Kindergartner #2 - E.G. Daily
- Kindergartner #3 - Kath Soucie
Background/Cameo Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 0:03-0:30
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 4:22-4:27
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 5:36-5:52
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 6:39-6:53
- ↑ Paul Germain Tumblr Website: "Recess pilot" (2017)
- ↑ The beginning of the Recess Gag Reel
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 0:05
- ↑ TV Tropes: "Recess / Trivia" (Created in 2011)
- ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 0:20-0:26
Transcript[]
Gallery[]
|
The Recess Wiki has a collection of images about The Break In |