We are the Tool Street Gang!
— The show’s Title Theme Tune
The Tool Street Gang is a 2001 One-Episode Wonder All-CGI Cartoon produced by Lough House Animation.
The show, which is based on a set of toys of the same name, revolves around the lives of the seven anthropomorphic tools who make up the titular gang- Dizzy the drill, Tap the hammer, Squirt the oil can, Gripper the pliers, Fret the saw, Turner the screwdriver, and Nutley the wrench- and the various misadventures they find themselves involved in.
Unfortunately, only one episode of the show appears to have ever been produced: The series’ pilot, “Where’s Squirt?”, wherein the tools find themselves having to search for Squirt after he falls into an open sewer. It can be viewed (in fairly poor quality) here
.
The Tool Street Gang contains examples of:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The sewer Squirt falls into is large enough for him to walk around in, and deep enough that a Chain of People is required to reach down to him and pull him out.
- All-CGI Cartoon
- Alliterative Name: Dizzy the drill.
- The All-Solving Hammer: Nutley seems to think that she’s the All-Solving Wrench, and will suggest building plans accordingly.Nutley: You know, I think we should be putting that shed together with nuts and bolts.
Gripper: You would. You’d put a sandwich together with nuts and bolts given half the chance.
Nutley: Good idea! It’d keep the ham from falling out. - Animated Adaptation: Of a playset. No, not a toyline, a single playset.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The main cast consists of anthropomorphic, human-sized tools.
- Answer Cut: After Gripper asks the other tools where Squirt is, the scene cuts to Squirt calling out for help in the sewers.
- Big Eater: Well, Big Drinker, but when Squirt, Gripper, and Nutley fail to show up for the tea break, Tap is more than happy to gulp down all of the tea that was supposed to be for them.
- Chain of People: On Fret’s suggestion, the gang does this in order to reach Squirt in the sewers.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: Gripper can be seen, for no particular reason, imitating a rooster doing this during the theme song.
- Color-Coded Characters: Gripper is red, Nutley is orange, Dizzy is yellow, Turner is green, Fret is light blue, Squirt is dark purple, and Tap is pink.
- Coordinated Clothes: All of the tools (except for Squirt, who can’t really wear anything due to how his body is shaped) wear identical blue overalls. They also all (including Squirt this time) wear matching pairs of red boots. Oh, and they all have White Gloves too.
- Disaster Dominoes: At the end of the episode, Squirt has a Sneeze of Doom which sends him flying backwards into Dizzy, who spins around and knocks into Fret, who stumbles into Turner, and a few more bumps later the gang’s workshop is in absolute chaos.
- Ending Theme: The end credits are accompanied by a shorter, instrumental version of the theme song.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: One happens after Squirt causes some Disaster Dominoes in the gang’s workshop.Squirt: Maybe I should’ve stayed down that hole.
Nutley: What, and miss all the fun?
//Everyone laughs// - Failed Pilot Episode: “Where’s Squirt?” was supposed to be the first episode of a 65-Episode Cartoon. Alas, that never came to pass.
- Four-Fingered Hands: All members of the titular gang have these.
- Hurt Foot Hop: Tap does one during the intro after accidentally hammering his foot.
- Meaningful Name: Pretty much every tool has one- Gripper is a pair of pliers (a tool meant for gripping things), Nutley is a wrench (which turn nuts), Dizzy is a drill (which spin bits and, if the bit gets stuck, spin themselves), etc.
- The Nose Knows: Cog the Robot Dog is able to locate Squirt by sniffing him out.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Gender-inverted with Fret (female, blue) and Tap (pink, male).
- Questioning Title?: “Where’s Squirt?”, the show’s only episode, has one.
- Rhyming Names: Cog the Robot Dog.
- Robot Dog: Cog.
- Rough Overalls: All members of the titular gang wear overalls (except Squirt, who can’t really wear anything due to how his body is shaped).
- Rule of Seven: There are seven tools in the titular gang: Dizzy, Fret, Turner, Tap, Nutley, Squirt, and Gripper.
- Sentient Vehicle: A bus with a face that drives itself is seen during the intro; presumably, if the show hadn’t been a
One-Episode Wonder it would’ve been a recurring character. - Sneeze of Doom: Squirt, after having caught a cold from being in the sewer, sneezes forcefully enough to propel himself backwards and knock into Dizzy, which sets off a chain of Disaster Dominoes.
- Team Pet: The gang has one in the form of a Robot Dog named Cog.
- Team Title: The show is named after a group of tool friends.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: The tools’ names are all called during the theme song- oddly, except for Fret, even though a shot of her jumping is included during the intro sequence at the perfect time for her name to be said.
- They Have the Scent!: The Tool Street Gang use Cog the Robot Dog to search for the missing Squirt by tracking his scent.
- Title Drop: ”Where’s Squirt?”, the title of the one existing episode, is dropped twice: First when Gripper and Nutley return to the gang’s garage and realize that Squirt isn’t with them, and then when Dizzy asks Cog (their Robot Dog) to find Squirt by scent.
- Title Theme Tune: ♪ We are The Tool Street Gang! ♪
- Two Girls to a Team: There are two female tools in the titular gang: Fret the saw and Nutley the wrench.
- Watch Where You're Going!: Squirt and Fret do this during the intro sequence.
- White Gloves: All members of the titular gang wear them.
