Backdaft

Season

3

Episode

4c

Date Aired

September 8th, 2000

Title Reference

Backdraft (1991 film)

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The Incredible Shrinking Johnny	The Johnny Bravo Affair

"Backdaft" is a Season 3 episode of Johnny Bravo.

Synopsis[]

Johnny signs up to be a fireman to impress chicks, but cannot do anything right.

Plot Summary[]

The episode opens inside the Town Hall, Carl at the podium introducing Pops as the volunteer fire chief.

Pops explains that Willy, "the town hobo", had recently won the lottery and moved to Zürich, leaving Carl as the only active member of the town's fire brigade. Johnny asks when the movie starts, learning he is actually sitting through a meeting.

Johnny then fails to leave and seems very uninterested in volunteering, until a banner makes him realize the appeal of firefighters to women. Pops tries to ask if anyone but Johnny wants to volunteer, until he finally gives in from he and Carl's begging.

The next morning, Johnny gets to the firehouse early with the gift of tile grout. Carl takes the opportunity to read a dramatic poem he wrote about firefighting, while Johnny plays with the fire equipment in childish delight. After Johnny makes a hole in the wall with a firetruck ladder, Carl finally stops to scold him. Johnny responds to this by blasting him with a fire extinguisher. Pops then enters the firehouse, scolding them both.

Outside, Pops begins to give Johnny his training exercises with Carl playing the role of a cat stuck in a tree. Johnny proves his incompetence by chopping the tree down with an axe, bringing Carl down with it. Next, Carl plays the role of a trapped citizen in a fake burning building while Pops instructs Johnny to put out the fire. The fire hose comes out empty, leading Johnny to hand it to Carl and slam his own head against a fire hydrant. A burst of water erupts from the hose, sending Carl violently flying around.

On lunch break, Johnny and Pops eat and watch television moments before the alarm goes off, signaling an actual fire. After "winning" a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors against Carl, Johnny takes the firetruck on a chaotic and destructive drive through town alone. Arriving at the apartment in question, Johnny breaks into a room, only to be met with a woman simply trying to make popcorn on her kitchen stove. Johnny yells for her not to panic and begins to fill the room with water, telling her they should leave through the fire escape. He then proceeds to jump out the window, while the confused woman reveals she doesn't have a fire escape. Johnny crashes into the ground outside and is approached by Pops, who suggests he start his twenty year long unpaid vacation from the fire department.

Goofs[]

While Johnny is chopping at the tree, Carl's pants suddenly disappear.

Trivia[]

Oddly enough, unlike Pops and Johnny, Carl does not seem to be wearing any kind of shirt underneath his firefighting jacket. He is also the only one of the three wearing the jacket correctly.
The firefighting helmet straps are completely absent in the storyboards for this episode.

Cultural References[]

The last line spoken of Carl's poem is a reference to the famous sonnet High Flight: "For I shall slip the surly bonds of Earth, to touch the face of—"