- "Mind your manners!"
Airdate: June 30, 2000
"Tongue Twister Trouble" is the nineteenth episode of the first (internet) season of Happy Tree Friends.
The Happy Tree Friends are having fun skating at a frozen lake. Sniffles happens to have trouble balancing on the ice, but he manages to stay standing. An ant skates by. Of course, Sniffles tries to eat him. The ant dodges, causing Sniffles's tongue to get stuck on the ice. The anteater tries to pull it out, but this only causes him to tear it from its bottom side, still stuck. A toy mouse lands on it, serving as bait for a kitten (Mittens/Honey) which is released from its cage by another ant. Upon landing on the tongue, the kitten begins to prick her claws on it, causing more pain. Another one of the ants then ties Sniffles's tail to an anvil with a rope, while the ant that Sniffles first encountered pushes said anvil with a bottle as if sending off a brand new ship. The anvil falls into a hole in the ice, pulling Sniffles in the process. The kitten then finishes him off by slashing off his tongue, sending him into the freezing water. The kitten then sleeps comfortably on Sniffles's remaining tongue.
"Tongue Twister Trouble" contains the following:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The episode's title.
- Ambiguous Situation: Sniffles is left frozen solid. Whether he still lives (a la Cro-Marmot) or not depends on what the viewer thinks.
- And I Must Scream: Sniffles's final fate in this episode is being frozen alive.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: The kitten's eyes are visible amidst the darkness when the cage it is in is still closed.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The ants toward Sniffles, of course.
- Cute Kitten: The yellow kitten, who is named either Mittens or Honey by the creators.
- Downer Ending: As usual when it comes to Sniffles vs. the Ants, Sniffles is defeated. Horribly.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Cro-Marmot makes a background appearance in this episode a while before his major debut.
- Failures on Ice: Unlike Giggles and the ants (and Cro-Marmot), Sniffles has trouble balancing himself on the ice. And there is more than just that.
- Foreshadowing: Cro-Marmot's random appearance might be to foreshadow Sniffles's fate.
- Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: After falling into the freezing water, Sniffles then pops out already encased in ice.
- Killer Rabbit: The kitten pretty much helps the ants kill Sniffles.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The music at the beginning of the episode is reused from "Crazy Ant-ics".
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Giggles survives this episode.
- Tongue on the Flagpole: Sniffles's tongue, meet ice.
- Tongue Trauma: From being torn from its bottom to getting pricked by a kitten to getting outright slashed off.
- Updated Re-release: One of the early episodes to be part of "Classics Remastered" releases, which rerelease early HTF episodes in HD.
- Your Size May Vary: Sniffles's tongue size is drawn inconsistently in this episode, to the point where it is much bigger than the kitten in the final shot.
