Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures: Fright of the Bumblebees – Cheese, Crackers, and Chaos
In the first Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures episode, “Fright of the Bumblebees,” Wallace creates a new honey-making plan. It quickly gets out of hand. The story unfolds in four parts, beginning with his idea for a honey delivery service, “From Bee to You.”
The Breakfast Wrangler
The story begins with Wallace and Gromit’s morning routine on West Wallaby Street. Gromit runs the complicated “Breakfast Wrangler”. Nutter the squirrel keeps stealing the toast, so Gromit uses butter to trick him. Things take an unusual turn when Mr. Paneer, the grocer, orders 50 gallons of honey for the town festival. Since they don’t have enough flowers, Wallace decides to use a special formula on Miss Flitt’s daisies.
Ton O’ Honey
In this part, Gromit gathers ingredients for Wallace’s growth formula. First, he convinces Major Crum in the basement to give up his “Grotein” bars. Next, Gromit gets “Strongium Tea” bags from the newsstand by changing newspaper headlines to make Mrs. Gabberly happy. Finally, Gromit mixes everything in the “Mix-o-Matic” and uses it on the flowers. The formula works too well, and the bees become huge and aggressive.
Buzz Cutter
As giant bees cause chaos in the neighborhood, Wallace gets stuck in the kitchen, so Gromit has to deal with the swarm. He needs to handle three different groups of troublesome bees. First, Gromit catches “The Bedroom Bee” with a rubbish bin and a trapdoor.
Next, Gromit handles the swarm in town square by leading them into a shop awning and using a mechanical flipper. Then, he takes care of “The Basement Hive” with the help of a “Cheese Sniffer 3000” robot and a lullaby record. The climax comes when a huge Queen Bee appears and takes Wallace away to the edge of town.
Queenly Bearing
Gromit has to use different dashboard controls, like the periscope and wipers, and distract the Queen Bee by playing documentaries or comedy on the radio.
To protect the truck, Gromit uses the “Porridge Gun” until they trap the Queen Bee in a tunnel. At the end, Wallace tries a new formula to shrink the bees back to normal. It works for the bees, but Wallace accidentally gets splashed and shrinks to the size of a mouse, ending the episode with a joke.
