Flowery Detour

"Flowery Detour" is the fourth episode of the American animated television series Bambi. It first aired on September 4, 1999, on ABC as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning.

Summary
Flower, after being separated from his friends, goes on his own amazing adventure, facing many dangers along the way.

Plot
Bambi, Thumper and Flower are playing in the meadow when they hear a gunshot. Realizing that Man is in the forest, they run back to their homes for safety. However, Bambi trips while running and Flower falls off the deer and lands onto the ground. As Bambi and Thumper make it back to safety, Flower is left to potentially be hunted, but he realizes that the only way for him to make out of this alive is that he pretends to be dead, so he does just that and he gets taken away by the hunters.

As Flower stops pretending to be dead, the hunters realize his ruse and try to shoot him, only for them to be skunked, giving Flower just enough time to escape from them. However, he realizes that he is nowhere near the forest and becomes worried about his friends, so he decides to make his way back to the forest, hoping he can make it back in one piece. While making his way back, though, he becomes distracted by the smell of flowers and follows it to find a flower field on a farm. As he takes his time smelling them, he comes face-to-face with a cow, and Flower runs away from the cow, encountering dogs, chickens and angry farmers as he quickly gets to a safe place, then goes on his merry way.

As Flower makes his way back, he sees a car driving along the road, making Flower realize that they could be Man and decides to play dead, again. When the car pulls up, it turns out to be a human family of sorts, as a kid goes to pick up the skunk, thinking that he could make for a nice pet. However, his parents disagree, believing that it could be a wild skunk, but the kid just wants to keep him, until the skunk falls under pressure of him, causing the kid to drop Flower as he runs away from them. As the skunk arrives at a "safe" place, he realizes that he is in the area with a Scottish terrier and manages to escape before he gets mauled.

Flower decides to make his way back to the forest, but soon, daytime becomes nighttime, leaving Flower to worry about what will happen if he tries to return to the forest in the dark, so he decides to sleep in a nearby flower field for the night, where thankfully for the skunk, no one harmed him. The next morning, Flower wakes up and continues his journey, only to discover a carnival nearby, and the skunk, really curious to see what's going on, heads there. What he discovers is a large carnival of some sorts, filled with games, food, and even magic shows, getting the skunk really excited. Despite first impressions, he gives in and eats as much food as he can that won't harm him, as he's feeling hungry. After his eating spree, the skunk is left chubby, and is about to rest when a magician takes the skunk for his own magic act.

The magician uses him to perform a magic trick that will sprout Flowers for the skunk to hold, and for his next trick, he is going to make the skunk disappear. When the magician does the trick, Flower is taken under the stage as he proceeds to make his escape and hold onto one of the balloons, only for the balloon to pop, landing Flower in a zoo, where he is met by a bunch of lions. He escapes the zoo via a skateboard, but he crashes into a fence, sending the poor skunk flying into a tree and becoming stuck up in it with the wolves down below preparing to eat him. Flower, realizing that he's most certainly doomed, holds on to the tree for dear life, only for him to spray the wolves, making them run away. Just as he was about to climb back down, a truck arrives and a woodsman chops the tree down, making Flower jump to nearby trees until he comes across one that's not going to be chopped down and climbs down that tree.

Realizing that he needs to get back to the forest now, he proceeds to make a run for it. However, after a bit of running, Flower appears to be lost with seemingly no way back, until he realizes that the forest was behind him the whole time. Filled with joy, the skunk proceeds to head back to the forest, but not before having a close encounter with the same hunters that took him. Once he's in the clear, he makes it back to the forest, where Bambi and Thumper are looking for him. Surprised to see him back, Bambi and Thumper ask him where he has been the whole time he was gone, as Flower proceeds to tell them a bit about his wild adventure before they head back to their homes, ready to sleep in for the night.

Production
Coming soon!

US

 * Disney's One Saturday Morning Hits Volume 3 (VHS)
 * Bambi: Wild Adventures (VHS)
 * Bambi: Season 1, Volume 1 (DVD)

Reception
Coming soon!