Characters

• Uniqua
• Pablo
• Tasha

Summary

"Pablo is on the Meteor Watch Squad, but a toxic space spill turns him into the uncontrollable Flipper! Can Pablo contain the Flipper and help his squad-mates Uniqua and Tasha stop an Earth-bound meteor?" A Bo Diddley-style rock beat keeps the squad moving on their mission.

Plot

Uniqua, Pablo, and Tasha are in the backyard looking in a telescope. Pablo looks at the viewer and thinks that it is a meteor, but realizes that it is a person. Uniqua checks off it on her notepad. Pablo excitedly tells the viewer that he has been waiting for a meteor to land so he can test out his new invention: the Rocket Racket, but he's also sad because it's never happened yet. Uniqua encourages him by singing "Today Could Be the Day". The backyard transforms into an observatory and the mission begins.

The trio put their belongings in lockers and Pablo hugs his teddy bear, Teddy, and puts the toy in his locker. Pablo is ordered to check on the Rocket Racket to see if it is okay. Pablo checks out the Meteor Mobile and shows us how the Rocket Racket works. Then there was trouble: Pablo bumps into a cart displaying beakers and toxic space goo. Tasha stops it and makes sure nothing fell. They don't know what could happen if it spilled. Pablo agrees and walks her. As soon as they leave, the toxic space goo glows.

After a while of searching, Tasha informs Uniqua that a meteor is heading straight for Earth! The girls start to head to the Meteor Mobile right away, but Pablo is so happy that he celebrates and runs around the room. In the process, he bumps into the cart again, but this time the space goo spills all over him. When Uniqua mentions the meteor, Pablo starts to feel funny and then turns large and green. Tasha names him the Flipper because he is flipping out. He and the girls sing "Where Is Meteor?". The girls run away from him until he finds Teddy and turns normal-sized and blue again.

Pablo puts the teddy bear back in the locker, but when the girls talk about the meteor, Pablo turns into the Flipper again. They give him Teddy and he turns back into Pablo. They realize that Pablo turns into the Flipper when he gets excited about the meteor and that he turns back to his normal self by holding Teddy. Pablo doubts at first, but when Uniqua discusses the meteor situation, he turns into the Flipper and she gives him Teddy. He agrees with them as soon as he turns back. Tasha then commands Pablo to never lose sight of his teddy bear.

The trio walk outside and enter their truck. They secure the Rocket Racket. Pablo puts Teddy near him to never let it leave his sight. They begin to drive, but Pablo loses Teddy. They reinforce him to not flip out by singing "Don't Flip Out". They see the meteor and they don't let Pablo see it, but he sees it from the sunroof. He turns into the Flipper and runs out of the car.

The car bumps into rocks and Tasha is relieved that the rocks did not fall on the car. The rock pillars falls like dominoes, they runs get out his car and destroy the rocket's arm. Tasha says she spoke too soon. Teddy falls into Uniqua's hands. She gives Teddy to the Flipper and Pablo comes back. They explain how the rocket is ruined and they can't save the Earth now. Pablo says he can. The others argue. Then Pablo corrects himself and says the Flipper can. They agree. Pablo jumps on the rocket, throws Teddy to Tasha, turns into the Flipper and grabs a tennis racket. He flies into outer space with the rocket and hits the meteor back into the galaxy.

He returns to Earth and celebrates. Tasha gives Teddy to him and he turns back into Pablo. They sing "The Meteor Watchers' Celebration" and cheer. Tasha heard a noise and ask Pablo if he's turning into the Flipper but it was actually his stomach. So he invites them all over for oatmeal raisin cookies at his house. They accept as the rocky land transforms back into the backyard. They sing the end song and enter Pablo's house. Pablo opens the previously closed door and shouts, "METEOR!", and the mission has success.

Roles

• Pablo: Meteor Watcher Pablo and The Flipper
• Uniqua: Meteor Watcher Uniqua
• Tasha: Meteor Watcher Tasha

Songs

• "Today Could Be the Day"
• "Where Is Meteor?"
• "Don't Flip Out"
• "The Meteor Watchers' Celebration"

Trivia

• The Flipper's powers are based on those of the Incredible Hulk, a Marvel superhero; however, unlike the Hulk, his powers are based on over-excitement rather than anger.
  • This makes The Backyardigans the second Nickelodeon (and first Nick Jr.) show to feature a proper Hulk parody. The first was The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode The N-Men.
  • Similar to how Bruce Banner's transformation into Hulk was portrayed in Iron Man: Armored Adventures (which aired in the United States on sister network Nicktoons), Pablo does not physically transform to become the Flipper, instead transforming in a flash of light.
• This episode was released early to the DVD "Operation Elephant Drop" before premiering on the main Nick Jr. channel 2 years later.
• This is the final official episode of the series:
  • To premiere exclusively on the main Nickelodeon channel in the United States.
  • To be produced in 2009 according to the copyright claim.
• This is the second and final Uniqua, Pablo, and Tasha episode without Tyrone and Austin. The first one was Ranch Hands from Outer Space.
• This is the fifth and last episode Tyrone doesn't appear.
• This is the last episode where Pablo uses the line "That was a _ adventure, don't you think?". The first one is Ranch Hands from Outer Space, and the second one is The Funnyman Boogeyman.
• This is the only Season 4 episode, and also the last episode where Pablo undergoes a panic attack.
  • This is also the only time Pablo does his panic attack where Tasha is voiced by Gianna Bruzzese since in other episodes from season 1-3 she was absent or was voiced by Naelee Rae.
• It is also the last of the two episodes where Pablo gets excited while having a panic attack.
• This episode was originally going to air on the main Nickelodeon channel on September 28, 2011 at 1:30 pm as part of a week of new episodes of this show and The Fresh Beat Band called "Rockin' Week", but due to a last-minute schedule change, the premiere week (along with this episode airing itself) was entirely replaced with Max & Ruby. And because of that, this episode's premiere got moved to November 11, 2012 (Nick Jr.) and April 25, 2013 (Nickelodeon) respectively.

Goofs

• In the widescreen version of the episode, Tasha dances off screen and disappears.
• During the song "Where Is Meteor?" and the line "'Cause Pablo's flipping", both Uniqua and Tasha's mouths are moving even though only Tasha sang that line.
• There are four lockers in the observatory despite there being only three characters.