The Picnic Panic

The Picnic Panic
The Thing picks up the back of Spike's motorcycle while he's still riding it.
Premiere date	September 8, 1979
Run time	11:34
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
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"The Picnic Panic" is the first episode (part one) of The Thing season one, and came as a segment of Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. It aired on September 8, 1979 on NBC.

When Spike challenges Ronald to a motorcycle race, Benjy is forced to help Ronald to keep things fair and safe.

Memorable quotes

Spike: Hey, let go, boulder fingers.
The Thing: Well, I'd rather have boulders in my fingers, than rocks in my head.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Betty Harkness	Marilyn Schreffler
Kelly Harkness	Noelle North
Benjy Grimm/The Thing	Wayne Morton (Benjy) Joe Baker (Thing)
Ronald Radford	John Erwin
Turkey	Michael Sheehan
Stretch	Unavailable
Spike Hanrahan	Art Metrano
Miss Twilly	Marilyn Schreffler

Organizations

• Yancy Street Gang
• Park department

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Centerville
      • Centerville Picnic Grounds

Objects

• Benjy's rings

Vehicles

• Betty's car
• Ronald's car
• Yancy Street Gang's motorcycles

Music

The score was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: September 8, 1979 on NBC

Errors

• Why is there only four students at the high school picnic? And one of them isn't even a high school student.
• Despite already being called the Centerville Picnic Grounds, a second sign says Centerville Picnic Area.
• Yes, Benjy was asking Betty if she was at the time by herself, but they also came together, which itself makes very little sense to begin with.
• When Betty comes closer to Ronald to ask if he's afraid, Benjy and Kelly, who were behind either side of him, have disappeared.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• Warner Bros. owns the show, while Disney owns the characters, making it difficult to release this episode onto DVD.