Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel

Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got The Barrel is the fourth episode of Donkey Kong Country, and the first appearance of Eddie the Mean Old Yeti.

Plot Synopsis
Donkey Kong is sitting in front of his mirror, moping that he feels like he "has a case of the uglies", but Diddy says he looks fine. DK isn't sure, because he promised to treat Candy to a formal luncheon today, and he says that he "can't show up looking like a big hairy ape". Diddy, however, tells him he has nothing to worry about, because a big hairy ape is exactly what he is.

That afternoon, DK and Candy are having lunch, eating a special dish of DK's that he calls "Banana Borginyong" (Candy can't understand what that means). Just then, Bluster arrives in the Barrelcopter, telling Candy that it's time for her to get back to work. While he's at it, though, he offers Candy to go see The Banana Slammers with him. But Candy declines, saying she's finishing her lunch with DK. Bluster demands Candy to tell him "What do you see in this big hairy ape?" Having a bit of difficulty finding an answer, Candy replies, "He's a big hairy ape, and you're not." Bluster leaves, mocking Candy's answer, but then decides to himself that "if that's what Candy wants, that's what she'll get!"

The next day, Bluster arrives at the barrel factory, wearing the Banana Flip (a large Elvis-style toupee that the Banana Slammers also wear), expecting that Candy won't resist him now. Instead, Candy is repulsed, telling him "I wouldn't go out with you even if that was your real hair." This plan having failed, Bluster asks himself what it is that makes Donkey Kong so special that it's attractive to Candy, and he then decides that it's the Crystal Coconut.

That night, Bluster sneaks into Cranky's Cabin and steals the Coconut. Meanwhile, DK wakes up from a bad dream, and he and Diddy rush over to Cranky's Cabin, banging on his door. DK explains to Cranky that he just a nightmare about someone stealing the Crystal Coconut, but it's only then that Cranky discovers the Coconut is missing, and DK is surprised that his dream was for real. Cranky suspects that King K. Rool has stolen the Coconut, but then DK finds Bluster's calling card on the floor, thus revealing to them that Bluster stole it. Knowing that Bluster doesn't the danger he's put the island in, DK and Diddy vow to retrieve the Coconut.

Soon, at the barrel factory, Bluster is attempting to impress Candy by showing off the Coconut in his possession, but she merely thinks it's a fake and causes the barrel-making machine to knock it out of his hands and into the bad barrel conveyor belt. DK and Diddy show up just in time to get it off, but then Bluster body-slams DK, and he drops the Coconut. The Coconut ends up in a barrel marked "007", which is then loaded onto the Barrel Rocket and blasted off before DK can stop it.

Meanwhile, over at his hideout, King K. Rool is busy constructing a device of his when General Klump comes in reporting that he and his troops have not yet been able to seize the Crystal Coconut. K. Rool explains (to the viewers) that he needs the Coconut as a power source for his new invention, a Supersonic Satellite (made out of barrels) that will work as "the ultimate spying machine". Upon Klump's explanation that the Coconut was last seen being launched into orbit, K. Rool demands him to go find out where it's headed.

Back at the Barrelworks, Donkey and Diddy are demanding Bluster to tell them where Barrel 007 is going. Bluster doesn't want to, saying he doesn't want them to go off being the heroes again while he is made to look like a jerk ("you already do," Candy comments). Frustrated with this, DK and Diddy leave to go look themselves, but Bluster hints to them that they should look around the beach. Just after DK and Diddy leave, though, Klump and some Kritters come in, demanding the Coconut. Bluster at first tries to fib his way out of the interrogaion by claiming he never had the Coconut, then refuses to tell them where it's been transported, but is forced to admit it when the Kritters ready their Klaptrap-Blasters. Reading Bluster's clipboard, Klump finds out that Barrel 007 was sent to Funky's Flights.

Over at the beach, DK and Diddy ahve had no luck in finding the barrel, so they pay Funky a visit (because DK is hungry) while he's busy working on a painting he calls The Couch Potato Cruiser. As DK is looking through the refrigerator, Funky mentions that his banana barrel shipment today was bare, and all he got was a barrel with "two Os and a 7". Funky explains that he was bringing the barrel back to the factory, but on his way, he did a barrel roll with his plane, and Barrel 007 fell into the White Mountains, where Eddie the Mean Old Yeti lives.

Funky then proceeds to fly DK and Diddy to the White Mountains; they do not notice that Bluster is trailing them in the Barrel Copter. After Funky drops them off (he has to leave so he can pick up his banana supply), DK and Diddy hear the sound of club-banging coming from a nearby cave. Inside, they find Eddie the Yeti banging a rather small club on Barrel 007. DK asks Eddie to give them the Coconut, but he refuses. After a brief chase, DK and Diddy manage to convince Eddie to give them the barrel by offering him a match in exchange. Eddie is pleased with the fire that the match provides and gladly gives the Kongs the barrel, but then he burns his hand and starts yelling in pain, causing DK and Diddy to run away.

But just as they've made it out, DK and Diddy fall into a pit and lose the barrel to Bluster, who happened to be nearby. DK and Diddy ask Bluster to get them out, but he refuses, saying that he's going to go be the hero and return the Coconut, and then he'll get to have lunch with Candy. Suddenly, Klump and the Kritters appear, demanding Bluster to hand over the Coconut. Again, he refuses at first but then has to agree when the Kritters aim their Klap-Blasters again. However, the trigger-happy Kritters start firing all over the place whenever Klump says the word "fire", and Klump starts worrying that he'll be out of a job when K. Rool's satellite goes into orbit. One of the Klaptrap blasts hits and eats Bluster's Banana Flip, causing him to freak out and drop the barrel down the pit. Eddie then shows up and catches the barrel, and this time he won't let DK and Diddy have it back (he is apparently still angry about burning his hand earlier), so he runs off with it. Up above, Klump decides to blame the Kritters for losing the Coconut.

In the mines, DK and Diddy come to a three-way fork that Eddie has gone into, and they try to decide which way they should go. Luckily, Eddie comes running out of one of the tunnels, being chased by some Kritters in a mine cart (or a "train", as he calls it). The Kritters catch up to Eddie, and his attempt to beat them up fails, as they manage to snatch the barrel out of his grasp. DK and Diddy rush after their mine cart.

Over in his hideout, K. Rool has by now finished constructing his Supersonic Satellite, and he wants to know why he doesn't have the Coconut with him. Klump attempts to tell K. Rool his alibi (claiming the Kritters deserted him in the face of Eddie), but then the Kritters who snatched Barrel 007 arrive. K. Rool is ultimately pleased, and he orders to attach the barrel to his satellite. Unbeknownst to the Kremlings, DK and Diddy sneak in at this moment and hide in one of the mine carts transporting the satellite.

The Kremlings head outside to launch the satellite, but before K. Rool can start the countdown, DK and Diddy show up to interrupt it. K. Rool sends some Kritters to stop them, but DK holds them off while Diddy gets the Coconut out of Barrel 007. The apes then escape with the Coconut, but K. Rool is not worried, explaining that he knew he couldn't count on Klump and therefore had installed a backup power source to the satellite. Instead of lifting off, however, the satellite breaks apart, and Klump feigns surprise. Realizing that Klump sabotaged the machine, K. Rool furiously chases him through the desert.

Afterwards, Donkey and Diddy return the Coconut to Cranky's Cabin. DK suggests that Cranky should find a safer place to store the Coconut, but Cranky declines, saying that "as long as I carry a big stick, no one will mess with me!" Suddenly, Eddie the Yeti barges in, carrying a larger club than before, and starts wrecking the place, prompting Diddy to add, "Unless it's someone with an even bigger stick!"

Trivia

 * The majority of the episode's reruns on the FOX Family Channel cut out most of the sequence where DK and Diddy trade Eddie a match for the barrel; this was most likely to avoid the possibility of kids playing with matches (even though the show was rated TV-Y7). It was perhaps for this same reason the show's intro sequence was shortened down on the channel; a shot of Eddie burning his hand from this episode was among the shots in the theme song that were cut out.


 * Barrel 007 is a reference to James Bond. (By coincidence, at the time the show was in production, Rareware, the company behind the Donkey Kong Country games, was at work on a Nintendo 64 game based off of the most recent Bond film at the time, Goldeneye.)