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Unlicensed Flying Object is the second half of the fourth episode of season 1.

The episode was produced in 2002 and premiered worldwide on November 15, 2002 in Australia and on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 22, 2003.

Synopsis[]

Brad really wants to get his driver's license, but he needs to learn that joyriding in abandoned UFOs doesn't exactly score points in that regard.

Plot[]

Driven Mad[]

Unlicensed Flying Object (2002) begins in the neighborhood with Tuck riding his big wheel, talking to himself and pretending he's a racecar driver named Johnny Zoom. He whizzes down the sidewalk, up his driveway and into the backyard. Tuck narrowly avoids running into Brad, who can be seen sulking on a tire swing. Tuck circles around Brad several times before Jenny touches down in their backyard and in front of Tuck, inadvertently blocking his pathway. Jenny tells Tuck that she likes his "toy bike," to which he tells her his so-called toy bike helped him win the Playground 500 bike race two years in a row. An annoyed Brad scoffs, prompting Jenny to ask Tuck what's the matter. He reveals that their father won't allow Brad to drive the new family turbo wagon, despite Brad having earned his learner's permit. Jenny tries to relate by telling Brad that Dr. Wakeman won't allow her to fly to the mall, to which he dismisses Jenny's complaints, since having rocket-powered legs is a convenience and luxury not known to humans.

Jenny then leaves momentarily and returns in a heartbeat to surprise Tuck and Brad with jetpacks. The boys gleefully accept Jenny's gifts to them. Dr. Wakeman then contacts Jenny via her built-in monitor to alert her of a spaceship sighting nearby. Before disconnecting, Dr. Wakeman notices Brad and Tuck playing around with the jetpacks and angrily questions Jenny, who disconnects the feed in a panic. Jenny then tells the two brothers she has to go find a spaceship and takes off. As she begins to fly around and scan the surrounding area, she notices Brad has joined to assist her patrol using the jetpack given to him. Jenny warns him that this mission is a delegate intergalactic affair; Brad responds by telling Jenny he can take care of himself. As she begins to apologize, Tuck can be heard screaming, followed by him zooming past Brad and Jenny uncontrollably on his jetpack, possibly due to Tuck being much smaller compared to his brother. Brad and Jenny fly after him and find that the youngster has crash-landed in the dense forest.

U.F.O. (Unlicensed Flying Object)[]

As Brad begins to recover a dazed and confused Tuck, something catches Brad's eye and he drops his little brother back on his head. He notices the apparent missing spaceship, which is a flying saucer. Brad begins to celebrate the discovery when Jenny lands in front of their immediate pathway and tells them to stay away from the ship, as it could be dangerous. She tells the two to keep an eye on their jetpacks, then flies away to scout the area more. Brad then deliberately sends his jetpack flying towards the UFO in order to justify getting closer to it so he can "keep an eye on that jetpack." Rather than recovering his jetpack, he attempts to force the ship's doors open. The ship's doors however are locked, so Brad begins to feel around the top of the door for a key, to which he manages to find one and let himself into the ship. Brad expresses that they're about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, but Tuck refuses to enter the ship, not wanting to risk harm at the hands of possible aliens on board. Brad tells him to stay outside and look out for "lions and tigers and bears." Tuck's response is mocking Brad, but after hearing growling in the distance, hurriedly runs inside after Brad.

Once on the ship, it becomes completely pitch-black until Tuck is levitated upwards by an elevator. On his way up, he catches a brief glimpse of scary-looking aliens in laboratory jars, as well as weird but intimidating robots. The elevator leaves Tuck off upstairs in the UFO cockpit, where he notices Brad is fiddling around with the ship's controls. Tuck begins to panic, telling his foolish older brother that messing around with the controls could either vaporize them, or get them grounded by their parents. Brad pulls a lever that suddenly lifts the ship off the ground. The ship ascends above the trees and out of the woods. Jenny, who is using her telescopic eye to survey the area, looks behind her to see the ship taking off. Inside the cockpit, the two brothers are panicking; Tuck is pleading to land the ship, while Brad begins hitting every button combination possible, hoping to eventually hit the one that begins their descent. The ship then stops, but not because Brad hit the correct button, but because Jenny stops it in midair with her foot. She then angrily tells Brad to land the ship. He finds another random lever and yanks it, but rather than descending, the ship ascends, but this time far more rapidly, sending Jenny into a tailspin. Aboard the ship, Tuck and Brad are forcibly pulled to the floor of the cockpit due to the ship's speed. Brad fights to reach the ship's steering wheel and pulls back on it, stopping the ship's speedy climb and allowing Tuck to recover. Brad confidently pushes the steering wheel forward to fly horizontally. Jenny catches up with the two and tells them several times (with the use of loud, ear-piercing speaker and megaphone gadgets) to slow down the ship. Brad curiously yanks yet another lever that looks like the brake control. The ship stops on a dime, sending Jenny flying off course and far away from the ship. She attempts to stop herself in midair, even deploying a parachute, but her effort is thwarted due to how fast she was going moments ago. Brad loses sight of her and jokingly tells Tuck they're going to fly around and find their babysitter.

The Skyway Patrol[]

Brad, having seemingly mastered the flying controls, begins doing flips and twists around the clouds. He then drops a CD into the ship's stereo, and as a techno song begins to play, he dims the lights inside the cockpit and puts on a pair of sunglasses, pretending to be "cool" while piloting a high-speed intergalactic aircraft, going as far as to lay back in his seat and "drive" with one finger on the steering wheel. In the heat of his little fantasy, Brad fails to notice they speed past a Skyway Patrol officer on duty. The enforcer, noticing an unidentified flying object, quickly finishes his donut and coffee, then hits the lights and pursues the ship. Tuck alerts Brad, who hits another random button to open a window and interact with the patroller trying to pull them over. The button however activates a deadly laser on the side of the ship. A panicking Brad, without thinking once again, hits several other buttons, all of which reveal to be multiple weapons of several variations, including projectiles and lasers. Each time, the Skyway Patrol officer just narrowly avoids each shot. After his windshield is damaged, the officer radios in for backup, warning other units that the UFO is hostile. The Skyway Patrol officer then returns fire with his own laser cannon. Elsewhere, Jenny is using a radar gadget to look for the ship. When the ship appears on screen as a blue dot, she notices a dozen other red ones following close behind.

A whole Skyway Patrol squad is now in hot pursuit of Brad and Tuck. The officer who phoned in the backup notices Jenny up ahead, who has deployed stop signs and detour signs for the officers. The leader of the units in pursuit orders his men to immediately fire upon Jenny, thinking that she's been deployed as a distraction by the "aliens" to throw them off course. Jenny quickly evades Skyway Patrol lasers and begins frantically pounding on the top of the UFO to let her in for shelter. Tuck lets her in, and once inside, Jenny receives an urgent video call on her built-in monitor from a frantic and angry Dr. Wakeman, who tells her that Skyway Patrol is in a dogfight with a UFO. Dr. Wakeman looks around, only to realize Jenny is in fact onboard said UFO. As she begins to scold her "irresponsible" daughter, Jenny forcibly disconnects the call once more. She then confronts Brad in the drivers seat, who is in a state of shock. When he comes to, Jenny tells him he's done piloting the ship. Brad gets up and an argument ensues between the two of them. With no one piloting the ship, Tuck notices the steering wheel beginning to slowly veer up, causing the ship to descend in a nosedive into downtown Tremorton. As Brad and Jenny argue, Tuck attempts to pull on the steering wheel to save them from crashing, but due to his size and sheer lack of strength, he's unable to take control.

Aliens[]

Back in the forest, a husband and wife pair of aliens named Lucille and Karl, apparently on vacation visiting Earth, are walking in the forest back to their ship. While Lucille talks highly of the trip, Carl complains about his sour experience; such complaints include the price of coffee, lack of hotel discounts for non-earthly beings, etc. The two of them reach the spot where they parked their ship. Seeing that it's been possibly hijacked, Carl retrieves a car keychain out of his pocket and presses a green button. Seconds before the ship crashes into downtown Tremorton, it disappears out of sight, confusing the Skyway Patrol units. The ship is teleported back to the original spot in the forest. Carl tells Lucille to stay outside while he goes inside to investigate. When Carl reaches the upper deck, he tries to get the intruders to reveal themselves. Jenny, Brad and Tuck are hiding under the cockpit control board. Carl retrieves a very normal-looking flyswatter he dubs the "attitude adjuster." Jenny jumps out of her hiding spot and confronts the angry vacationer and makes fun of his flyswatter. Carl then flips a switch on the handle of the instrument, causing it to power up and turn into a potentially deadly electrocution weapon. The three friends now begin to take Carl a little more seriously. Just as Carl is about to physically strike, an annoyed Lucille comes on board and reprimands him in front of them for wanting to use a weapon on non-hostile earthlings. Carl leads the three out of the ship. His agitated wife yells for him to get back on board so they can leave immediately.

All's Well That Ends Well?[]

As the ship flies away, a cocky Brad reflects on the day's events, believing Jenny has learned not to interrupt drivers behind the wheel and that he forgives her for doing so. He then tries to make a deal with Jenny that he keep the jetpack so that they're both "even." Jenny threatens to kick his butt if he doesn't hand it over. Moments later, a very angry Dr. Wakeman arrives to punish Jenny. Brad then defends Jenny, having realized that it was him that was at fault for everything that happened and that he's done with joyriding. He then hands his jetpack to Dr. Wakeman, who seemingly forgives Jenny and tells her to grab the other jetpack. As Tuck grabs onto it, it suddenly powers on, and he is once again unable to control the contraption as he's sent flying through the skies, with Jenny flying close behind. Dr. Wakeman gets out of her car and yells for her, but Brad gets into the drivers seat of her car and tells her he'll drive and catch up, having completely forgotten everything he had just told her. The episode ends with Brad speeding off down the street, with a frantic Dr. Wakeman screaming in terror.

Goofs[]

  • The moment when Nora tells Jenny to come along and to bring the other jetpack with her, when Jenny is shown, her Belly Bolt is gone.
    • Once Tuck accidentally flies with the jetpack after trying to hand it over to Nora, with Jenny flying off to save Tuck, her Belly Bolt can be seen again.

Quotes[]

Tuck (on his bike): "It's Johnny Zoom gaining fast, heading into the homestretch. Johnny Zoom moves into first place. But wait, there's a wet blanket on the track! Johnny Zoom avoids disaster (makes "vrooming" noises) The final lap, it's down to the wire, it's...(Jenny shows up)."

Jenny: "Pack up your toy bikes and skateboards, boys. We have...Jetpacks!"

Brad: "No...way...JETPACKS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! JENNY, YOU'RE THE COOLEST ROBOT GIRL I'VE EVER KNOWN, not that i've ever known another robot girl, but STILL, YOU'RE THE COOLEST!"

Jenny: Uh, thanks. So you guys wanna to try them out?

Tuck: (After finding out Brad is now at the helm of the ship) (Gasp!) Brad, what are you doing? You're gonna to blows us up, or vaporize us, or get us grounded! (Ship starts then rises) ...or get us ungrounded.

Jenny sees the ship taking off from outside the ship.

Tuck: "Get us down! Get us down! Get us down!"

Brad: "I'm trying! I'm trying! I'm trying!"

Ship suddenly stops

Brad: "Did that stop it?"

Tuck: "Nooo, that did."

Jenny: (with her foot on the brim of the ship, suspending the ship in the sky) "I thought I told you to stay put."

Brad: "Well, we tried but then you..."

Jenny: "Put the ship down."

Brad: "That's what I..."

Jenny: "Down!"

Brad: "But..."

Jenny: "Now!"

Brad: "Ooooo-kay."

Brad pulls a lever that causes Jenny to go into a spin and sends the ship to go upwards faster.

Brad: "Well, I think we both learned something here today. You learned to never interfere with the driver at the wheel and I learned to forgive. Tell you what, let me keep the jetpack and we'll call it even."

Jenny: "How about this, hand over that jetpack, and I won't kick your butt."

Trivia[]

  • Like most episodes of the series, this episode premiered in a handful of countries before the United States.
    • This episode premiered in Australia on November 15, 2002.
    • This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2002.
    • This episode premiered in Mexico on March 7, 2003.
  • The episode title is a reference to the term "unidentified flying object."
  • The slug-like tourist aliens in this episode (Karl and Lucille), the owners of the UFO, seem to have an Upper-Midwest American accent, commonly known as a Minnesota accent.
  • The episode makes a reference to The Wizard of Oz (1939), as Tuck exclaims: "Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!"
  • On the DVD Release of Season 1, on the back cover as it lists all the episodes, this episode is incorrectly titled "Unlicensed Flying Project".
  • This is the first episode to feature the voice of Nick Jameson.
  • This is the first time Brad disobeys Jenny when she tells him not to do something that is bad and dangerous. he even disobeys Jenny again for the second time in No Harmony With Melody.

Production Notes[]

102001 2002viacom

  • Although this episode premiered in the United States on August 22, 2003, it was actually produced in 2002 according to the credits, as with every other season 1 episode.
    • This episode was finished in July of 2002. [1]
      • This episode (and every episode up to This Time With Feeling) was added to the United States Copyright Office on December 13, 2002.
  • This episode's production code is 102-001, meaning that it was the first episode written, scripted, and storyboarded (but not the first episode finished).[2]
    • Unlicensed Flying Object (2002) was the first script written for the series in March of 2002. Despite It Came From Next Door (2002) chronologically being the first episode, it is basically a remake of the pilot (1998) and the decision to write it into an episode was made after the scripts for Unlicensed Flying Object (2002), Raggedy Android (2002), and The Boy Who Cried Robot (2002) were written, thus making It Came From Next Door (2002) the fourth script written for the series.
  • The first draft of this episode's script is dated March 12, 2002.
    • The second draft is dated March 15, 2002.
    • The third draft is dated March 21, 2002.
    • The fourth draft is dated March 26, 2002.
      • The script was finalized on March 28, 2002.

A chart showing the time between production and broadcast of each individual episode of season 1 (2002).

Gallery[]

Credits[]

Ear No Evil / Unlicensed Flying Object (credits)

References[]

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