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"100 Things to Do Before High School" is the first episode of the series 100 Things to Do Before High School. It first aired November 11, 2014 on Nickelodeon.

For this episode, Jonathan Judge, Debra Spidell, Julian Petrillo, Katey Wheelhouse, and Cecilia Mak won a Directors Guild of America Award in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs category.

Synopsis

CJ Martin comes up with a plan to make sure she and her two best friends remain friends after she learns she may lose them to different interests in high school.

Summary

On her last day of summer before the start of the school year, CJ watches a program called High School High Musical, which depicts high school as being an amazing experience. Ronbie, CJ's older brother, tells her that high school is nothing like the movie is showing, and the movie then shows them that high school can be difficult. One thing that sticks out to CJ is losing her best friends, who are very important to her, and she worries about it.

At school, Fenwick, one of CJ's best friends, tells her that they cannot be friends anymore because he is going to be busy with studying. CJ panics, but resolves to get Crispo, her other best friend, to help get Fenwick back. Before she can, Mindy Minus, the most popular girl in school, notices that Crispo looks cool and gets him to join the popular kids, leaving CJ by herself. She then tries to think of a way to get her friends back.

In her next class, she sees that her teacher has a raccoon in a cage and decides that she, Fenwick, and Crispo would rescue it and stay friends forever. When she tells Fenwick about freeing the raccoon, he is opposed at first, but joins. They also get Crispo to join, but their first plan to save the raccoon fails when they lose Crispo as the lookout. CJ and Fenwick get caught by Principal Hader, the school's new principal, in the halls when the bell rings, and she accuses them of skipping class. Mr. Roberts, the guidance counselor, saves them from getting punished by Hader.

Later, in her new office that is still being built, Mr. Roberts informs Hader that Slinko has a raccoon in his class, but she isn't concerned because it is in a cage. CJ tries to get Fenwick to help her save the raccoon again, but he refuses and mentions that Crispo is too busy with the cool kids to help them. Mindy warns CJ and Fenwick to stay away from Crispo. Hiding behind a book, Crispo approaches CJ and Fenwick and tells them that he can't choose between them and Mindy like Mindy told him to. CJ gives them a pep talk about middle school, and they agree to help save the raccoon again.

After their science class, they hope Slinko will leave the room again, but he tells them that after his cart went missing - which happened during CJ, Fenwick, and Crispo's first plan to save the raccoon - he would not be doing that again. He locks the door, and they wonder how they're going to save the animal. They notice a crane stop outside one of the science room's windows and decide to use it to get to the raccoon. They fail again and end up crashing the crane into Principal Hader's new office, destroying it. They run away, and Hader forces the construction workers and Paul Schmolitor the hall monitor to look for the three.

CJ, Fenwick, and Crispo find a hiding spot in Mr. Roberts's office, and CJ tells him what happened. When Hader comes into his office to inform him of what is going on, he does not tell her he knows who destroyed her office. Instead, he helps the three make a plan to change out of their gym clothes so they won't stick out by suggesting they go to the lost and found. They nearly get caught by Paul inside the school and the construction workers outside, but CJ recognizes her mother's car in the parking lot, and they hide in it. CJ's mother returns to her car and unknowingly drives the three back to the Martin house. They sneak inside and are left stranded without a way to get back to school when she leaves.

CJ explains to Fenwick and Crispo that the reason she wanted to save the raccoon was because she wanted to make sure they would be friends forever. They assure her they would be, and Ronbie comes home from high school, wondering why they weren't in school. CJ explains the situation and says they would get in trouble if they weren't back in time for attendance taken by Mrs. Knapp, their Spanish teacher, but Ronbie informs them that Mrs. Knapp never took attendance, which meant they just had to be back at school in time for the following class.

With time ticking away, the three manage to get Ronbie to drive them to school. They arrive in time, and Crispo hides behind a book again and leaves them. CJ and Fenwick rush to class, but before they get there, CJ notices that Slinko's room is open and empty, but Fenwick believes it only means Slinko would be back soon. He doesn't want to take the risk, but CJ goes into the room anyway. Fenwick goes to class, and Crispo wordlessly questions where CJ is. Fenwick uses hand signals to inform him, and Crispo wants to go help her, but Fenwick is still opposed.

While CJ has trouble getting the raccoon cage open, she is nearly caught by Paul Schmolitor. Crispo hits him with the room's door, knocking him temporarily unconscious and helps CJ open the raccoon's cage under orders by Fenwick. The raccoon leaves the room and attacks Slinko, who is walking back to his classroom, in the hallway. Slinko throws it off of himself and into a classroom before he runs off screaming. The students in the classroom exit the room in a panic. Paul comes to and when he sees the students running and screaming, he assumes there is a fire and pulls the fire alarm.

CJ follows the raccoon and lets it outside. She shares a high five with Fenwick and Crispo, but as they turn to walk off, they run into Hader, who is suspicious of them. Mr. Roberts convinces her to let the students out early and CJ gets the students to chant Hader's name, something she had dreamed of. CJ thinks this would be the last adventure the three would be doing together, but they tell her that staying friends forever would mean there were many more adventures to do.

Cast

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

Guest Cast

  • Michael Anthony Dinuzzo as Student
  • Cai Duran as Frack
  • Serendipitity Liliana as Kindergartner
  • Megan Littler as Tracy's Best Friend/Dancer
  • Heather Ryan as Mom
  • Sophia Strauss as Student
  • Prem Shelat as 8th Grader
  • Brent Tyler as Foreman

Notable Dialogue

CJ's voice-over: High school. If you believe the hype, it will be the greatest four years of our lives.
CJ's voice-over: And just like that, the plan started falling apart.
Fenwick: The plan's falling apart!
CJ's voice-over: I just said that.
Crispo: Mindy smells like strawberries.
CJ: So would the raccoon if it wore lip gloss. And what if it has a raccoon wife and raccoon kids and they're all scared 'cause Dad didn't come home from his raccoon job?
Fenwick: What else ya got?
CJ: This is middle school, this is our time to get crazy and live life. I've seen the future and nobody has time for anything. So, what do you say? One last adventure? If it doesn't work out, you can go back to your intense studies and you can go back to -
Fenwick: Fine, I'll do it.
Crispo: You had me at raccoon kids.
[CJ smiles happily]
CJ's voice-over: We did what every responsible student should do when they've made an honest mistake.
[CJ, Fenwick, and Crispo run away]
Fenwick: What kind of guidance counselor are you?
Mr. Roberts: A totally awesome and probably future-fired one.
Fenwick: Why did you have to rescue a raccoon? I mean, why not do something easy, like steal a school bus or kidnap Coach LeBeau?
Crispo: Is Coach LeBeau a dude or a woman?
CJ: It doesn't matter as long as he/she is happy.
Crispo: Makes sense.
CJ: My brother and this singing dream nightmare said that middle school friendships don't make it to high school, and I didn't want that happening to us.
Fenwick: Why would you think we wouldn't stay friends?
Crispo: Yeah, we're gonna be friends forever.
CJ: Liars! You said, "See you after graduation," and you're hiding our friendship behind a book.
CJ: Pass her! You gotta pass her!
Ronbie: With minors in the car? You want me to lose my license?!
Mindy: Where were you, and what are you wearing?
Crispo: I was in the bathroom.
Mindy: For an hour?
Crispo: Yeah, it was so bad, I had to change my clothes.
Mindy: [gasps]
Mr. Roberts: Might I suggest early dismissal? We've had a lot of excitement today and I think you'll win even more students with your compassion. [whispers to Hader] Do it before somebody dies.
Principal Hader: I am compassionate, too.
CJ's voice-over: So, looking back, do I recommend freeing a raccoon on your first day of school? Yeah, because I learned that no matter how bad things get, we have the power to make things better. I learned that with friends by your side, you can do anything. And I learned that slow motion makes everything look cool. But if you don't have a raccoon in your home room, try just getting out of your comfort zone. Sure it might get a little crazy, but isn't that the point? And the biggest thing I learned from my singing dream is that these are the greatest years of our lives, so let's make sure we break out. All you need is a little courage, a couple of good friends, oh, and don't forget the sunglasses.

Trivia

  • Nickelodeon promoted the premiere as a movie.
  • This episode aired on Veteran's Day at 7 PM.
  • This was the only episode to air in 2014.
  • Jack De Sena was a former member on the 2002 revival of All That and voiced Sokka on the popular Nicktoon Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • This episode was filmed in March 2014.[2]

Cultural references

  • High School High Musical is a parody of the Disney Channel movie High School Musical.
  • Principal Hader is called "Darth Hader", which is a reference to Star Wars' "Darth Vader". Her office is called the Death Star, which is another reference to the franchise.

Gallery

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To view the 100 Things to Do Before High School (episode) gallery, click here.


References

  1. Tuesday Cable Ratings: ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Wins Night, ’30 for 30′, ’19 Kids & Counting’, ‘Chrisley Knows Best’, ‘Awkward’, ‘Faking It’ & More This episode received 2.253 million viewers on its premiere night and came in ninety-fourth place in the top 100 cable shows among adults 18-49 for the whole day.
  2. "@isabelamoner: First day of filming for the pilot I'm working on! #soexcited #StayTuned" This tweet was posted on March 13, 2014.
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