Back to School

Back to School

Episode	Season 3, Episode 20b
Airdate	April 1, 2000
Previous Episode	Kooky Prank Day
Next Episode	Monster Truck Folly
Directed by	Robert Porter, Barrington Bunce, Arne Wong
Written by	Steven Banks

Back to School is a Season 3 episode.

Characters

Synopsis

The episode starts with Cat and Dog eating breakfast with Cat getting stuff from a box filled with high school memorabilia. Cat plans to attend the high school reunion dance tonight with the school letterman jacket but Dog says to him that the jacket is his. Cat gets Dog's pool diving award as he mistaken it for his achievement in school. Cat then gets the high school yearbook and find pictures of him, Dog and his old high school crush, Sally in the past. Cat plans to see Sally again at the school reunion dance. He gets the high school diploma and it’s revealed that Cat's name isn't on it. He tells Dog that they need to fix it by visiting their old high school.

The brothers visited Rancid the school principal about the diploma. It turns out that Cat actually never graduated from high school, meaning that he can't attend the reunion dance. Rancid points out to Cat why he didn’t get a diploma was because he never attended the last day of school so in order for him to have the diploma and being able to attend the reunion dance, he must go back to school for one day.

Cat and Dog walk in the hallway. Cat doesn't remember if he had went to school on the last day. They enter science class with Lola as the science teacher and relatives of the Greasers, Squeak Shriek Dubois's niece , Bartholomew Lube's nephew and Biff Cliff's nephew , as students. Cat and Dog work on their science experiment but it exploded when Dog caused a chemical reaction. This caused Dog to get popularity in school.

Cat and Dog appear walking in the hall again with students trying to talk to Dog. They enter an English class with Sally as the English teacher. Sally instructs the class to read The Great Catsby. Dog holds a stack of books with his nose while Cat asks Dog to pass a note he wrote for Sally. Dog calls Sally but the book stack fell onto Cat and Dog. Sally tells Cat that passing notes is forbidden in her classroom and demands that Cat reads it out loud in front of the students. He recites the poem he wrote for Sally and is embarrassed resulting in being laughed at by her students except for Dog who thought the poem was very sweet and ends up crying.

Dog juggles books while Cat wears a dunce cap as his punishment. English class is over and Cat asks Sally about the after school activities then tries to kiss her. Sally tells him that her boyfriend the gym teacher wouldn't like it. Cat and Dog goes to the cafeteria for lunch where Mr. Sunshine serves lunch. They ask Squeak and Biff if they can eat with them but Squeak says that the table is for cool kids only, Biff said that Dog can sit with them, but Cat has to sit with the nerds. Cat Bartholomew to sit with him, but he said that it's for nerds only and said that they don't sit with losers. Biff throws food at Cat's head and Squeak yells "Food Fight!". The students throw food at Cat with Dog defending him. Rancid appears wanting to know who started the fight. The students claim that Cat started it and he's in trouble again.

Cat writes "I will not start food fights" on a chalkboard numerous times in detention. He noticed that the school is more strict than when he was a student in the past. The boys have one class left and it's gym class. He and Dog enter the gym and find out that Cliff is the gym teacher. Cliff tells students that it's Nearburg Fitness Test Day and instructs them to climb up on a rope to ring the bell. He asks Cat that he the first student to climb the rope and invites Sally to see him climb. Cliff tells the pair that Cat has to climb the rope by himself with no help from Dog. Cat spits on his hands a grabs on to the rope. As he ascends to the top he falls with his hands on the rope. Cliff, Sally and the rest of the students calls Cat a loser for failing to climb the rope. Cat remembers that this scenario happened in the past as a student and it's the reason why he didn't get his diploma. Sally tells Cat that he's kind of a loser which causes Cat to be determined to prove her and the others wrong, Cat does a Tarzan call and gets to the top of the rope. Cat rings the bell with his tongue. Cat and Dog fall on top of Cliff. Cat finally wins Sally's heart and receives the high school diploma from Rancid.

In the next scene, on their way to the dance Cat drives his car with Sally and Dog with him wearing evening attire. A police car with Rancid as a police man requests Cat‘s driver's license. Cat shows him the license but it’s revealed that only Dog has a driver's license and not Cat. Sally knew that Cat was a loser all along and Cat freaks out for not having a drivers license and has to go to driving school.

Trivia

Cliff's father appears in a flashback as the previous gym teacher.
The book that Sally’s English class is reading in the episode, The Great Catsby, is a reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby.
This episode is considered a classic along fans due to the humorous exploits Cat finds himself in.
Sally Chenille's Voice Actress is left uncredited. But it either has to be Nika Futterman or Maria Bamford.
This is the last episode to use traditional cel animation. The series converted to digital ink and paint afterwards.
This episode contradicts the opening as Cat did graduate. Additionally, in "Remain Seated", there is a brief scene that also indicates Cat graduated.