Beat the Heat is the 38th episode of the first season of Strawberry Shortcake: Berry In The Big City. It premiered on June 11, 2022.
Summary[]
Strawberry and friends want to have a picnic, but a heat wave has hit Big Apple City. Together, they brainstorm a solution!
Plot[]
The episode begins with Strawberry Shortcake and Custard preparing a picnic basket. Strawberry thanks Custard for her help and prepares to leave the apartment, when Aunt Praline asks if she's going outside. Strawberry tells her that she promised her friends a perfect picnic at Golden Delicious Park. Aunt Praline reminds her they're in the middle of a heatwave, and that it's hot, it's humid, it's horrible! Strawberry laughs it off, and Aunt Praline turns on the news, where the News Anchor repeats the exact same thing Aunt Praline said, proving her point.
Cutaway: Strawberry still isn't convinced, and asks how hot could it really be.
Strawberry leaves the apartment and skips over to the door, where she's immediately blasted by the scorching hot temperature, causing her hair to poof up instantly. Strawberry still presses forward, though is visibly struggling. As she walks through the city, she greets the Pizza Rat, who is frying an egg on the sidewalk, and it greets her back.
Cutaway: Strawberry admits it's a little toasty outside.
Strawberry finally arrives at Golden Delicious Park, exhausted. She greets her equally exhausted Berry Besties, and asks them where's the picnic. Orange Blossom tells her it didn't go great.
A flashback occurs showing what happened when the Berry Besties tried setting up the picnic. Orange and Huckleberry Pie laid out the picnic blanket, which instantly burst into flames. Blueberry Muffin opened an umbrella, which also burst into flames. Lime Chiffon set up a lawn chair, which burst into flames, but luckily Lemon Meringue managed to push her out of the way before the chair was fully engulfed. The two girls then tried to put out the fire with a hose, which burst into flames as well.
Orange weakly says there's no way they can have a fun picnic in this heat. Bread Pudding tells her he wouldn't say there's no way, the screen zooming over to show the Mean Berries sitting in front of a giant industrial fan, and Bread tells them they just need to bring their own outdoor air conditioning. Sour Grapes tells the Berry Besties that it's hard being this cool, and they wouldn't get it. Raspberry Tart tells them that she would invite them over, but there's no room for everyberry. She then brings up Strawberry Shortcake's resourcefulness, telling her she'll probably come up with some corny, can-do solution. The fan suddenly stops working, much to the Mean Berries surprise. Bread Pudding backtracks their earlier statements, telling the Berry Besties that they're all in this together. Raspberry tells Strawberry that everyberry could use one of her corny, can-do solutions right about now.
Cutaway: Strawberry seemingly takes offense at the corny, can-do solution remark. She then cheerily admits that of course she has one.
Strawberry tells everyberry that as much as she hates to say it, it's too hot for a picnic, much to her friends' disappointment. Strawberry adds, however, that all the berries she met (including Raspberry Tart) have shown her that anything is possible as long as they do it together.
Strawberry starts singing "Berry Best Friends Forever", about how when life gives you a problem and you may have no clue on how to solve it, a friend can help and that if you do things together anything is possible. Strawberry and her Berry Besties all head back to the Berryworks and enter the clubhouse, where they begin setting up the picnic. Everyberry joins in the fun, dancing and singing together, as they do things like repair the broken fan, and painting a backdrop of Golden Delicious Park. By the end, the Berry Besties have set up their indoor picnic, as they celebrate together, ending the episode on a freeze-frame of the friends jumping into the air.
Cast[]
- Ana Sani as Strawberry Shortcake, Aunt Praline
- Bahia Watson as Orange Blossom
- Andrea Libman as Lemon Meringue
- Margarita Valderrama as Lime Chiffon (archive audio)
- Diana Kaarina as Blueberry Muffin (archive audio)
- Vincent Tong as Huckleberry Pie, News Anchor
- Tabitha St. Germain as Raspberry Tart
- Meg Roe as Sour Grapes
- Chirag Naik as Bread Pudding
Non-Voiced Appearance[]
- Custard
- Pizza Rat
- J. Quincy Cupcake and Henrietta Cupcake (painting)
Song[]
Trivia[]
- This is the second summer episode of Berry In The Big City. The first being Ice Cream Trouble.
- The giant fan that Raspberry, Bread, and Sour were using is a modified version of the Fan-tasy 3000 from Ice Cream Trouble, with the "tech-y" bits removed to make it look more like an ordinary industrial fan.
- This episode was seemingly intended to be the original finale for Season 1, as Strawberry refers to Raspberry as a friend and everyberry is shown to be in mostly good standing with each other, while Bake Off will still portray them with some animosity. It's possible Bake-Off is placed last so that the season would end with a more climactic finale, since it resolves the season-long Strawberry-Raspberry rivalry storyline and sets up the return of the Purple Pieman.
- Like Berry Merry Melody, the song featured in this episode, Berry Best Friends Forever, has an extended version on YouTube. Unlike What's a Holiday Without You, there are no additional scenes for the episode itself, and it features original animation of the Berry Besties all gathering to go on a picnic.
- Lime Chiffon and Huckleberry Pie's summer outfits are shown, while everyberry else's appeared in the previous episode.
- Lime Chiffon and Blueberry Muffin use archived audio for their appearance.
- Throughout the song, Sour Grapes can occasionally be seen doing something different from the other Berry Besties.
- During the scene where the Berry Besties are singing together as Lemon sprays a water hose in the air and Strawberry holds up an umbrella, Sour Grapes is trying to shield herself from the water unlike everyberry else.
- When everyberry is dancing in unison, Sour Grapes is standing off to the side and nodding along with the music.
- During the final line, Sour Grapes has her default emotionless face when everyberry else is smiling, though she does smile during the final freeze-frame.
Continuity[]
- The shot of Strawberry descending down the stairs and opening the door, only to be overwhelmed by the heat is similar to a shot in No Ordinary Berry, where Strawberry goes down the stairs and opens the door only to be overwhelmed by the intensity of Big Apple City.
- The heatwave mentioned in the previous episode, Ice Cream Trouble, is still ongoing. Items continue to spontaneously burst into flames from the intense heat.
- Strawberry waves hello to the Pizza Rat and it greets her back, calling back to Strawberry having befriended it during No Ordinary Berry.
- Huckleberry gobbles up an entire plate of cupcakes while Raspberry isn't looking, calling back to his love for pastries and his quick and messy way of eating them.
References to Past Series[]
- While it could be a coincidence, the title for the song, Berry Best Friends Forever, is the same as the first line in a Berry Bitty Adventures song, Home Sweet Home.
Errors[]
- At the 4:15 minute mark, Sour Grapes is wearing her normal outfit rather than her summer outfit.
Video[]
Gallery[]
Click here to see the gallery of the episode