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Episode Information


"Ranch Hands from Outer Space" is an episode of The Backyardigans from the third season.

Characters

Summary

"It's an out-of-this-world adventure set to '60s Italian pop as Aliens Zuniqua and Zablo become Rancher Tasha's ranch hands to earn the pancakes they need to fuel their ship!"

Plot

Tasha is in the backyard wearing a cowgirl hat walking around with a bunch of paint cans and a broom in her hands before tripping and falling next to more full paint cans, causing a mess. She introduces herself to the viewer as Rancher Tasha, who just woke up to another day of hard work on her ranch. She sings, "I Gotta Get to Work," as she explains how hard her job is. She sighs, prepares herself for another boring day, and wishes she had more ranch hands.

The backyard transforms into an old-fashioned farm. Tasha and her trustworthy horse Ralphy go inside the small house. Meanwhile, a gray futuristic UFO falls from the sky, landing behind a rock and hiding it from view. Two aliens wearing silver outfits exit the ship. They question why their ship landed suddenly and check the fuel tank. There is nothing inside the many trays designed to hold fuel.

The two aliens, Zuniqua and Zablo, consider returning to their home planet Zorbidor. After giving the idea some thought, they decide to decline it and find "zum-zum" (fuel) on the planet Earth. The duo locates Rancher Tasha's home and decides to walk up to it and ask the resident for some fuel.

Tasha exits her house with a stack of pancakes on a plate. She talks to Ralphy as she spots the two Zorbidorians. She asks herself who they are and then asks the same question to the aliens. The aliens do not bother answering the question and ask a question of their own if they can get some zum-zum. They spot the pancakes and refer to them as zum-zum.

Tasha realizes that "zum-zum" means pancakes and tells the two that they may have the entire stack of fuel if they help around her ranch. The aliens accept and sing, "We'll Work for Pancakes." Tasha tells them the first errand to run is building a tall, sturdy fence. Tasha leaves the aliens with Ralphy as she leaves to get some wood, but Zuniqua uses a Zorbidorian force to stack the wood in mid-air.

Zuniqua stacks them on top of one another rather than around the house since Tasha requested a tall fence. Tasha returns and drops the pile of wood she is holding in astonishment since the fence towers into the clouds. Tasha then says at the two aliens and repeats that she wanted a tall fence around the house. Tasha turns her back, sighing, as Zuniqua uses another power to change the fence around the home.

Tasha looks back, sees the nicely-made fence, and changes her frown into a grin. She happily congratulates the duo on their work. She then leads them to their second chore, moving all of her horses out of her barn while she cleans their stalls. Tasha rushes inside to get her broom as the two Zorbidorians shrink the horses and put them into a bucket. They sing "Zoid-Zoid!" as they remove horses from the pail and dance with the animals on their heads.

Tasha returns and sees the missing horses. She gets horrified since she believes that Ralphy is gone forever. She hears Ralphy's neigh from inside the bucket and claims she can almost hear his sweet neigh. The aliens then change the barn animals to their full size as Tasha covers her eyes. She opens them and sees Ralphy.

Tasha cheers and congratulates the Zorbidorians once again. She then shows them their last and final chore, painting her house orange. The aliens use their suits to transform the house into a fruit. Tasha looks at the house and gasps. She tells the aliens what she truly means and sings, "Oh, My!" as the alien duo changes her house into various fruits, including a banana and a blueberry, and back into an orange (fruit) after the song. After telling them it's the "color" orange and wants the house painted orange, they turn her house into the actual color of orange.

Tasha congratulates the aliens once again but secretly questions their strange behavior. She hands them the pancakes, expecting them to eat them. They take the plate back to their ship rather than devour the food. Tasha and Ralphy follow and watch them as they fill the pancakes into the ship's tray. After it gets fully fueled, they give their plate back to Tasha, making her realize they're aliens.

Zuniqua's stomach rumbles, causing Tasha to think that the sound is another alien coming to her home. Zuniqua tells the others that it is just her stomach and invites them to her house for pancakes. The rest of the cast accepts as the ranch transforms back into the backyard and Zuniqua and Zablo transforms back to the normal first letter, or named Uniqua and Pablo. The trio sings the end song as they enter Uniqua's pink house. Uniqua and Pablo open the previously closed door and shout, "Zoid-zoid!"

Roles

Songs

Trivia

  • This is the first Uniqua, Pablo, and Tasha episode where Tyrone and Austin don't appear. The second one is The Flipper!. Alongside that, this is the first episode of the series in which Tyrone doesn't appear. Because Tyrone doesn't appear in this episode, Pablo usually instead says the line, "That was an excellent (base of the episode) adventure. Don't you think?"
  • Pablo differently says the line "I could eat a whole plate of blueberry Zum-Zum!" when the three are entering back in the backyard.
  • This is the first season 3 episode where Tyrone doesn't appear. Pirate Camp is the second and last episode he was absent in only on the third season.
  • This is the first episode where Pablo is seen without Tyrone.
Pilots
"Me and My Friends" • Nick Digital pilot
"Pirate Treasure" • "The Heart of the Jungle" • "The Yeti" • "The Snow Fort" • "Secret Mission" • "It's Great to Be a Ghost!" • "Riding the Range" • "The Key to the Nile" • "Knights Are Brave and Strong" • "Viking Voyage" • "Castaways" • "Race to the Tower of Power" • "The Quest for the Flying Rock" • "Polka Palace Party" • "Surf's Up" • "Eureka!" • "Race Around the World" • "Monster Detectives" • "Cave Party" • "High Tea"
"Mission to Mars" • "Samurai Pie" • "Scared of You" • "Whodunit" • "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters" • "The Secret of Snow" • "The Swamp Creature" • "Horsing Around" • "Special Delivery" • "International Super Spy: Part 1" • "International Super Spy: Part 2" • "Movers of Arabia" • "Cops and Robots" • "Sinbad Sails Alone" • "Best Clowns in Town" • "Save the Day" • "Into the Deep" • "News Flash" • "Catch That Butterfly" • "A Giant Problem"
"Who Goes There?" • "Blazing Paddles" • "Garbage Trek" • "Fly Girl" • "What's Bugging You? " • "Chichen-Itza Pizza" • "To the Center of the Earth" • "Front Page News" • "Tale of the Mighty Knights: Part 1" • "Tale of the Mighty Knights: Part 2" • "Le Master of Disguise" • "Match on Mt. Olympus" • "The Great Dolphin Race" • "Caveman's Best Friend" • "Ranch Hands from Outer Space" • "Robin Hood the Clean" • "Escape from Fairytale Village" • "Pirate Camp" • "The Two Musketeers" • "The Masked Retriever"
"Robot Rampage: Part 1" • "Robot Rampage: Part 2" • "Catch that Train!" • "Attack of the 50 Foot Worman" • "Dragon Express" • "Flower Power" • "The Funnyman Boogeyman" • "Follow the Feather" • "Break Out!" • "The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve" • "Los Galacticos" • "For the Love of Socks!" • "The Flipper!" • "Elephant on the Run" • "The Magic Skateboard" • "Pablor and the Acorns" • "Super Team Awesome!" • "The Big Dipper Diner" • "The Amazing Splashinis" • "The Tale of the Not-So-Nice Dragon"
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