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This article is about the pilot movie. You may be looking for the junior novelization also under that name.

"House of Bloo's" is the pilot movie of the award-winning animated series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It is a 3-part, 66-minute TV movie that aired on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004.

Plot[]


SPOILER: Plot details follow.


Eight-year-old Mac and his imaginary friend Blooregard Q. Kazoo (or "Bloo" for short) often get into fights with Mac's 13-year-old brother Terrence. After Terrence uses Mac and Bloo to wreck the house, he clutches their mother claiming they caused the wreck, but their mother knew that Terrence did this and punishes him. Mac's mother says that she is tired of this behavior, so she has a talk with Mac. Mac tries to tell her that Terrence is to blame as he's the one picking on him and causing trouble, but she tells him that he has outgrown his age to have an imaginary friend, despite Mac pointing out that lots of kids have imaginary friends; even his mother did. Mac's Mom says when she was little, she did, but not when she was eight. She tells Mac that he must get rid of Bloo. Despite Mac pointing out that they're best friends and that he'll even keep him in his room and behave, his mom tells him this is not about them being good; this is about Mac growing up and that Bloo has to go. Crushed by overhearing their argument, unlike Terrence, who is rather pleased, Bloo later comes across a TV commercial for "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends"--"where good ideas are not forgotten," according to the motto.

The next day, Mac and Bloo stop in at the sprawling mansion and are met by Mr. Herriman, the strict business manager. After Bloo explains the situation in comically exaggerated detail, they are given a tour of the house. Frankie, the caregiver, is about to show Mac and Bloo around; however, she is soon called away by the ill-tempered, high-maintenance resident Duchess. The basketball-loving Wilt takes over the tour and introduces Mac and Bloo to the wide variety of rooms and imaginary friends that live in the house. Along the way, they meet Coco, who lays plastic eggs when she gets excited and only says "Coco" when she speaks, and the fearsome-looking but soft-hearted Eduardo. Mac and Bloo both think Foster's will be a good place for Bloo to live. That is, until Frankie tells them that Foster's is a foster home and not a boarding house; if Bloo stays there, he will be eligible for adoption whenever Mac is not around. Wilt also points out the reason Foster's was created was because many of the residents who live there were either outgrown or abandoned by their original creators, and by being adopted, it's a second chance for them. Mac, not wanting to lose his friend, promises to stop by after school and departs, taking Coco's eggs with him and leaving Bloo alone with his new housemates. After Mac arrives home, Terrence repeatedly hits him on the back of his head, mentioning the fact that Bloo better not be with him. Mac finally yells at Terrence that he was nowhere and that he took care of it. Mac then gets into bed only to become worried. Back at Foster's, Bloo is with the three friends who show him that he will be sleeping in their bedroom. When Wilt sees Bloo about to sleep on the floor, he lets Bloo take his bunk and sleeps on the floor, and they all fall asleep for the night. Before going to sleep, the three friends assure Bloo that Mac will be back, and Coco gives Bloo a plastic egg with a picture of Mac, making him feel better.

Bloo and Mac

Bloo and Mac

The next day, a wealthy couple stops by Foster's to find a friend for their spoiled daughter. They only want the best for her, and Frankie sees a perfect chance to get Duchess out of the house for good. The married couple agrees. Just as Mr. Herriman is getting ready to do the paperwork for the adoption, though, their daughter catches sight of Bloo and starts chasing him. Eduardo, Wilt and Coco race all over the house to keep Bloo out of reach, preventing him from getting adopted before Mac returns to visit Foster's as a promise, but the married couple's daughter finally snatches him up and shows him to her mother and father. They agree, but only Mac's last-minute arrival saves him. The millionaires leave empty-handed, while Duchess becomes even angrier at not being able to leave Foster's (which she refers to as a dump) due to Bloo's interference. Frankie is amazed that Mac refuses to abandon Bloo, but Mr. Herriman assumes that Mac will do so in time, only to have Frankie remind him that his creator never abandoned him either as well.

Meanwhile, Terrence has been watching from behind the bushes across the street and realizes that Mac has not gotten rid of Bloo. He and Duchess decide to join forces to do away with their common enemy. As Mac is on his way to Foster's the next day, Terrence stops him from reaching Foster's, carries him back home and locks him in Mac's bedroom closet. Terrence then pays a visit of his own, dressed to make a good impression. Duchess creates a diversion by provoking one of the Extremeasauruses (dangerous monster friends created by teenagers), leaving Bloo alone with Terrence.

Mac finds Coco's eggs in the closet and opens them, revealing the tools needed to make his escape. Unfortunately, Mac is too late to stop Terrence's adoption from going through as Frankie, Eduardo, Wilt and Coco call him out for his supposed abandonment, despite his insistence that he never intentionally abandons Bloo and knowledge about the consequences of this action. Mac advises them about Terence's true appearance, but Mr. Herriman rejects this claim, stating that he was a good boy, and that Mac must accept the consequences. Frankie reminds Mr. Herriman about the consequences mentioned during their conversation and everyone compliments Mac's intelligence. Despite the appreciation, Mac interrupts everyone to explains about Terrence kidnapping and locking him in the closet, impersonating as a good boy to adopt Bloo, but he's also suspicious that he is working with someone that plans to eliminate Bloo. Learning from Mac's suspicions, Frankie and the others soon realize that Terrence is working with Duchess after they find the Extremeasaurus' cell empty. That night, Terrence takes Bloo to a junkyard and meets Duchess, who then reveals her plans to feed Bloo to an Extremeasaurus (she had freed it earlier) to extract her revenge for ruining her chance of getting adopted to the millionaire family. The Extremeasaurus begins to chase Bloo around the junkyard while Terence and Duchess watch from the distance as the Extremeasaurus then corners him. Just as the Extremeasurus is about to eat Bloo, Mac and company arrive with the unicorns, making Bloo dodge the Extremeasaurus. Terrence mocks Mac and the Unicorns by calling them "ladies". The Unicorns angrily point their horns at Terrence, but he avoids their attack.

Mac and company confront Terrence and Duchess while he says "Let's Bloo this", much to everyone's bewilderment. Naturally, the Extremeasurus quickly appears to bypass them (except Mac, who evasively avoids it) and proceed to chase after them once more, as Terrence and Duchess hope their plans work. Mac orders Wilt, Coco and Eduardo to help Bloo, but they're terrified to fight against the Extremeasurus. Mac gets an idea and runs up to the Extremeasaurus to get captured and swung around, which Bloo questions sarcastically. However, Eduardo witnesses and charges towards the Extremeasaurus, ripping off the tentacle apart to save Mac. Suddenly, the Extremeasurus' tentacle limbs turn out to be bombs that approach and corner Mac and Eduardo and explode on impact, much to Terrence and Duchess' amazement. Eduardo lands on a pile of tires and Mac lands on a pile of Coco's eggs that she was laying out, but they both remain unharmed from the explosions. Miraculously, Mac formulates his plans by having Eduardo's strength to strip off all of the Extremeasurus' tentacles, Wilt to use his basketball techniques to throw all of the bombs and Coco to lay out many eggs to contain all of the bombs; Mac irritatingly says, "do this" instead of "Bloo this" yet Terrence still pokes fun about it. Mac's plans turn out to be successful as several of the Extremeasaurus' tentacles are stripped off and the bombs blow up inside Coco's eggs. Duchess complains about Mac and the others ruining her plans while Terrence is amazed at their actions, much to her annoyance. After Mac's plans are completed, Eduardo, Wilt and Coco cheer happily at their success before Frankie and Mr. Herriman's arrival as they're impressed and compliment Mac and his plans. Mac reminds everyone about the Extremeasaurus still chasing after Bloo, this time with no tentacles. Frankie demands Mac to solve this problem, to which he looks around before noticing Terrence and Duchess laughing evilly at the Extremeasaurus still chasing Bloo.

Thinking quickly, Mac shoots spitballs at Terrence, who then chases him. Mac meets up with Bloo and advises him about the beginning of the event, before Terrence appears and chases them, anticipating the inevitable. Mac tells Bloo to split away, who obviously assumes that he's abandoning him once again, but Mac tells him to split up their turns on the separate path and tricking Terrence by turning the monster against its masters that proceed to chase him instead. Elsewhere, Duchess begins to lose her patience about waiting for someone's scream until she hears Terrence's scream and finds the Extremeasaurus chasing him as he begs her to stop the monster after he hid behind her back for protection, which she does so. Before Duchess attempts to stop the Extremeasarurus, Mac and the others drop vases on top of her and Terrence's heads (the same type from the beginning), knocking them both out before they both get eaten by the monster, much to Bloo and Mac's shock. Mac is worried about explaining to his mother about Terrence's supposed death, but Wilt settles Mac and shows him that the Extremeasarusus revolts with Duchess and Terrence and spits both of them out of its mouth right near the hands of Frankie and Mr. Herriman.

Once everyone is back at Foster's, Mr. Herriman apologizes to Mac for his earlier misjudgment and then wholeheartedly agrees about Terrence for what he truly is. Frankie informs Mac that she, Wilt, Eduardo and Coco have already dealt with Terrence, revealing that they've locked Terrence in the unicorn stables as punishment for his duplicity, much to Terrence's shock and horror. The Unicorns surround Terrence and angrily point their horns at him for insulting them by calling them 'girly'. As for Duchess, Mr. Herriman punishes her to stay at Foster's because she hates living there so much since he can't think some of the other ways are too torturous (while Mac and Bloo taunt her), much to her and Frankie's dismay. However, Mr. Herriman is still reluctant about not letting Bloo get adopted. Mac and Bloo are then surprised by the arrival of Madame Foster herself (with Bloo apparently thinking that she was dead). After observing how much Mac and Bloo care about each other, she announces the big news: Bloo can stay at the house, and never be put up for adoption, as long as Mac comes and visits him every day after school at 3pm -- this, of course, delights Mac and Bloo, as well as Wilt, Eduardo and Coco. Frankie then gives Madame Foster a hug, and Bloo, Mac, and the others laugh, before Mr. Herriman tells everyone to stop all of the silly nonsense, ending the movie.


Spoilers end here.


APM Music Identification[]

  • "House of Bloo's" The Movie
  • Terrence Chase Scene Composed By James L Venabe - Terrence chases Mac and Bloo
  • Cops Gets Eaten - Bloo yells, then monster yells

Trivia[]

  • This episode was announced in 2001 before production of the pilot began the following year.
  • Mac appears to have an Eduardo stuffed animal on the dresser in his room.
  • In the original airing of the movie on August 13, 2004, it originally included a season one preview clip after the movie ended.
  • When this episode appeared on digital cable via on-demand services, the PlayStation Network, the Season 1 DVD set, the Cartoon Network video website, and streaming services, it was divided into three parts.
  • This episode has had the most DVD releases of all the episodes, with seven counting re-releases.
  • This episode (as well as the series) premiered on the exact same date Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie premiered in theatres in the United States.
  • There are 2 games playable on CartoonNetwork.com that are based on this movie, which are "A Friend in Need" and "Teamwork".
  • In one instance, Bloo says that Wilt should play basketball because of his height. During the chase when Eduardo, Wilt and Coco are trying to keep Bloo out of reach from the little girl, probably to Bloo's dismay, Wilt turns Bloo into a ball and then handles/dribbles him down the hallways like a basketball ironically, with Bloo probably never expecting that he'd be used as the ball.
  • Mac and Bloo are the first two characters to speak in this movie, making them the first two characters to speak in the whole series. They are also the first characters to appear and begin the show.
  • This is Yogi Boo Boo's only appearance in season 1.
  • Clips from this episode was used in a marketing promo for the show in 2002[1]and shows some differences from the final show despite being very small clips.
    • Some shots are shown to be very rough, having no shading/reflections.
    • The interior of the main hall was different, with different coloring for the walls, rails, carpets and doors.
    • Coco has a different walk cycle compared to her usual walk cycle, having more of a bounce to it.
    • The tour Wilt takes Mac and Bloo on has some extra scenes not present in the final, with him showing the porches (front and back), basement and attic.
    • During the scene where Wilt shows off all the friends at Foster's, the promo contains a scrapped scene showing the cloud-like elephant imaginary friend.
    • A line from Sloppy Moe is revealed to have been cut, but Moe was still credited in the final cut as “funky”.
    • Mac has an unused animation of him looking around as Bloo's jumping across the foyer before pouncing on Mac.
  • A clip of this episode was used in Cartoon Network's "30 Years of Iconic Cartoons" video for its 30th anniversary.
  • Unlike later episodes, Bloo is less self-centered and more compassionate. Likewise, many of Bloo's troubles in this episode are justified:
    • He threw a vase at Terrence's head because the latter was bullying him and Mac; although Mac warned Bloo not to, they were both happy seeing Terrence's unconscious state after Bloo threw the vase at his head.
    • He bit Eduardo twice, once was because he thought Ed was a vicious monster, and the second was to not get adopted by trying to prove he is a vicious monster.

Cultural references[]

  • The title is a reference to the American restaurant and concert hall chain House of Blues.
  • There are several references to Craig McCracken's earlier hit, The Powerpuff Girls, in this movie.
    • Frankie has pictures of the girls on her shirt, which she continues to wear throughout the show.
    • Mojo Jojo appears as an "unimaginative friend"; the kid who created him just copied what he or she saw on TV.
    • In the credits for part one, Bloo is channel surfing and stops at the show.
    • In the credits for part two, Mojo Jojo appeared during the chase scene, replacing Jackie Khones.
  • A Game Boy Advance can be seen in Mac's room when Bloo is switching the channels on TV in Mac's bed.
  • Among the items in the Foster's pantry is a bottle with a label shaped like the label seen on Heinz products. On the label is the number 58, a nod to Heinz's "57 varieties".
  • When the Extremeasaur loses its arms and starts chasing Bloo through a maze, the scene looks something like Pac-Man.
  • The Extremeasaur's head looks similar to the Pokémon, Trapinch. It also resembles the Chain Chomp from the Super Mario series.

Goofs[]

  • When Terrence carries Mac and Bloo in his arms, at one point his right arm goes through Bloo.
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  • At one point during the montage of imaginary friends, the word "eyelids" can be seen on the top left of the screen.
  • When Jackie Khones stands in the middle of the hallway during the chase scene, his feet are missing, but they reappear after he moves to his left.
  • During the junkyard chase, as Mac tricks Terrence, he tells Bloo to go left and Mac says he'll go right, but they do the opposite.

References[]

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