"Groundpiglet Day" is the second segment of the third episode of the second season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that originally aired on ABC on September 23, 1989.
Plot[]
Tigger wants to go skiing, but Pooh and Piglet point out to him that there's no snow. Unsure of whether it's the first day of winter or not, the three friends go to Rabbit's house to ask him. When they walk in, they track muddy footprints into Rabbit's freshly-cleaned living room, and the strong winds from outside blow many pages of Rabbit's calendar under his bed. The friends ask Rabbit what day it is and Rabbit, unaware that the pages were blown off, reads that it is February 2nd, which is Groundhog Day. He explains that if a groundhog comes out of his hole and sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, and if he doesn't, spring will come "tomorrow". To check if there is an early spring, the four try to find a groundhog, but since Gopher isn't willing to participate, they decide to use Piglet as one. Rabbit asks Piglet is he can see his shadow, but because Piglet's hat has fallen over his eyes, he says he can't see his shadow. The friends conclude that spring will come early (not noticing their own shadows despite it not actually being Groundhog Day) and start their spring cleaning and other activities right away.
The next day, a blanket of snow has coincidentally covered the Hundred Acre Wood, ruining everyone's spring plans. Believing he had been tricked, Rabbit goes to Piglet's house and yells at him for getting his predictions wrong. As he returns to his house, the winter winds blow the missing calendar pages into Rabbit's face and he realizes that it's actually November. Feeling remorseful over how he spoke to Piglet, he goes to his house to apologize, but finds a note from Piglet saying that he's run off to find a real groundhog to tell him what season it really is. As Rabbit tries to find him, Piglet is searching for a groundhog when a pile of snow drops into him and digs his way out from the bottom and decides to go back home. Rabbit finds a snowman with Piglet's hat on it and, believing that Piglet has been frozen solid, takes him to his house to warm "Piglet" up. His, Pooh, and Tigger's attempts at doing so cause the snowman to melt away. Piglet enters in and tries to talk to Rabbit, but Rabbit, believing the melted snowman is speaking to him, answers saying he regrets making Piglet into a groundhog and begs for forgiveness. Piglet says he does forgive him and it is there that Rabbit turns around and sees that Piglet was never a snowman after all. Piglet also asks Rabbit what the actual day is since it's not spring, winter or Groundhog Day and Rabbit says that it's November 13th. Realizing the shock, Tigger finds out that it's Porcupine Day and begins to tell people all the crazy things that were to happen on that particular day.
Characters[]
- Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings)
- Piglet (voiced by John Fiedler)
- Tigger (voiced by Paul Winchell)
- Rabbit (voiced by Ken Sansom)
- Gopher (voiced by Michael Gough)
Home video[]
- Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (VHS and DVD)
Notes[]
- This episode was shown during the premiere broadcast of Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You.
- This episode marks the second time that Rabbit thinks it’s a different day due to missing calendar pages. The first is How Much is That Rabbit in the Window.
- When this episode was part of Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, Tigger's lines at the end were dubbed over by Jim Cummings so they can tie into the next story, A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving.
- So far, the only home video release of this episode is its inclusion in Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, which has parts of it edited to fit the film. The original, unedited version of the episode has yet to see a home video release, though it is available on Disney+.
- Rabbit's calendar showed November 7th before the wind blew off the pages, meaning it was still five days ahead when Rabbit found the missing pages.