04x01 - A Little Batty/The Clean Up Mix Up

[bunniefuu]

Hey, everyone-- it's me, Molly!

♪ Molly of Denali

Let's go!

♪ She's Molly of Denali

[laughing]: Whooo!

♪ By plane or sled or snowshoe ♪

♪ She is ready to explore

♪ From Kaktovik down to Juneau ♪

♪ Always wanting to learn more ♪

Yeah!

♪ Together with her best friend Tooey ♪

♪ Always by her side And Trini.

♪ Discovering the outdoors

♪ On adventures day and night

♪ Come along with Molly

♪ Molly

♪ Through fields of fireweed

♪ Come along with Molly

♪ Molly

♪ From tundra to the sea

Mahsi'choo-- let's go!

♪ Molly of Denali

Yeah!

♪ She's Molly of Denali

♪ Come on ♪ Let's go!

♪ Molly of Denali

♪ She's Molly of Denali

MOLLY: "A Little Batty"

[tablet chirps]Hi, everyone.

It's me, Molly.

[barks]

Whenever my mom goes away for a few days,

I help my dad around the house.

And it's a good thing

because sometimes he really needs my help.

[laughs] [loud thud]

WALTER: Molly! [gasps]

WALTER:Whoa. Oh.

[grunting]

[inquisitive grumble]

[Molly grunts]

Whew.

Oh, thanks, Molly-doodle.[sighs]

He was checking the insulation

in our attic, and the only way up there

was through a little door in my bedroom ceiling.

Insulation is what keeps the heat in and our house warm.

Come on, Molly.

This attic isn't gonna insulate itself.

♪ It's insulation time.

Bye for now. [tablet chirps]

WALTER: Gloves?MOLLY: Check.

Goggles?Check.

Mask?Check.

♪

WALTER: [grunts] In Grandpa's family,

going back thousands of years,

they'd insulate their homes using dry grass and mud.

Mud? I wish we could use mud.

Well, this kind of insulation is a little easier.

All right, that was the last of it.

Remember to be careful going back down.

[animal squeaks]

[gasps] Hey, little friend.

What are you doing there?

Who are you talking to?

A little bat.

He's over there.[bat squeaks]

[gasps] A bat? [yells]

Oh!Oh!

I'm okay.

[chuckles] I had a soft landing. Phew.

[giggles] Don't worry, little bat.

We'll leave you alone now...

[bat squeaking]

...after I get a picture of how cute you are.

[camera clicks]

The important thing is to always be careful on ladders,

especially if you're afraid

of bats. [giggles]

Another important thing is

this cute little daatsoo neet'aa is in our attic.

He found a small hole and squeezed through to take a nap.

Isn't that clever?

That's why I think his name should be Foxy.

Also because his ears look like a fox's.

But don't worry, we closed the hatch,

so he won't get into my room.

Well, that's all for now.

Nenahaal'yàa. [tablet chirps]

WALTER: You know I'm not actually

afraid of bats. [chuckles]

You're not? No.

Bats are gentle. They eat mosquitos.

They're important members of our animal family.

So, um, why'd you get so jumpy?

Well, not that long ago,

I went into a cave to get out of a storm,

and I felt something on my head.

I thought it was my hat, but it moved.

I took off my hat,

and there was a bat

tangled in my hair!

[grunting, screams]

[voiceover]: I screamed. I jumped around.

I tried to get it off, but it wouldn't let go.

Finally I had to

peel it out of my hair...

Eek!

...and let it go! Gave me the shivers.

And since then, bats make me a little jumpy.

[screams]

[spluttering]

Oh. [laughs]

I guess daatsoo neet'aa makes me very jumpy.

But really, I am not afraid of them.

[laughing]

Glad that's cleared up.

Okay. Good to know.

♪

I thought we didn't want Foxy to get into the house.

We don't.

But it'll be easier for the bat to fly out through the window.

[grunts] There.

I'll close my door.

And I'll open the hatch, so the bat can fly out.

Do you want me to do it, Dad?

Yes! [sighs] Thank you.

♪

Mmm.

Maurice's dinjik tloo smells so good.

Whatcha readin'?

It's an email from someone who tutors your cousin Randall.

Hmm.

I didn't know Randall had a tutor.

He calls himself Leonard the Bat Expert.

Randall showed him the picture of Foxy on your vlog,

and Leonard said it's very unusual for it to be in Alaska.

What?

♪

"The light-colored fur around its eyes

"means it's a megabat

known as a spectacled fruit bat."

Whoa.

[tablet chirps]

Spectacled fruit bats only live in Australia,

so Foxy might be the first megabat

to come to Alaska ever!

Isn't that ♪ amazing?

Even though Foxy is small,

some megabats can grow up to be this big.

And the best part, they're also called Flying Foxes.

I knew Foxy was a good name for him.

WALTER: Molly, lunch is ready!

Oh, gotta go. Don't want my soup to get cold.

[lightlysnoring]

Wouldn't it be fun if Foxy grew up to be a ginormous bat

that flew around our house all the time?

Nothing about that sounds fun.

[shudders]

[door bell jingles]

[barks]We heard about your giant bat.

Everyone's talking about it.

BOTH: Can we see it?

Yeah! If it's still there.

We left the window open so it could fly out.

Can't it just rip through your roof anytime it wants to?

I heard it's big enough to pick up a horse and fly away with it.

[giggles] No.

Some megabats get big, but this one is very small.

Oh.

Wanna see it anyway?

[whispering]: Be careful coming up.

He's sleeping.

[snoring]

He's not big at all.

Yeah, he looks like a normal bat to me.

No, it's a spectacled fruit bat.

The lighter fur around its eyes look like spectacles.

Spectacles are glasses.

[squeaks]

I don't see lighter fur around his eyes.

Maybe he takes his glasses off when he sleeps.

Hmm.

I don't see it now either.

It looked different in the picture.

Maybe the light is different?

But the bat expert said

he's definitely a spectacled fruit bat.

Foxy was examined by a bat expert?

Well, no.

But he saw the picture.

WALTER:Molly!

Someone from your birdwatching group

posted your vlog to a bat-watching group,

and now it's all over the internet.

MOLLY:"Australian Megabat Found in Small Alaskan Village"?

That's us! We're famous.

Grandpa Nat's friend from the museum wants to see it.

And a reporter from Fairbanks asked Nina

about interviewing you.

A reporter?

I called Auntie Midge to help us catch

the daatsoo neet'aa and bring it down.

There's no way everyone's gonna fit in that attic.

Why are they interviewing me?

I'm not the bat expert.

No, but you told everybody about it.

[car horn honks]

Ooh, the place is packed.

And it looks like more are coming all the time.

I'm about to run out of moose soup.

Uh, can I get more meat from you?

WALTER: You can have as much as you need, Maurice,

but I can't deliver it right now.

Auntie Midge is getting the bat down from the attic,

and we're about to be interviewed.

[sighs]

I got him.

He dropped right in the box.

Could you see lighter fur around his eyes

that look like spectacles?

Nope.[groaning]

He looks just like a little brown bat to me.

But the expert said it's a megabat.

Well, I guess I'm not an expert.

But I've seen a lot of daatsoo neet'aalike this one.

They're all over Alaska.

WALTER: Oh good, you got him.

They want the box next to Molly during the interview.

And then they'll take pictures of it after.

Oh. Uh, okay.

Ready for the interview, Molly?

Uh, one second.

[phone buttons beeping]

[line rings]

Hey, Molly.

Hi, Randall.

Can you help us get in touch with your tutor?

Who?Your tutor, Leonard.

The bat expert?

He wrote my dad about our megabat,

and I thought he should talk to the reporter, too.

Leonard?

Leonard is seven years old.

What?

You're being tutored by a seven-year-old?

[laughing]: No.

I tutor him in math.

Oh, no!

I read the email wrong.

I thought it said "I tutor Randall,"

but it really says "I'm tutored byRandall."

I'm sorry, Molly.

My mistake.

But he calls himself Leonard the Bat Expert.

Yeah, he's an expert on baseball bats.

ALL: What?

Uh-huh.

He has a huge collection.

Some of them are even autographed.

Do you still need to talk to him?

No.

Thanks, Randall.

Nenahaal'yàa.

[phone beeps]

I repeated everything as if he was an expert,

but he was all wrong.

And now I'm all wrong, too.

What am I supposed to say to the reporter?

You only said what you believe.

And now you have new information.

So, that's what you say.

And I believed it too, Molly.

We'll go out there calmly and face it together.

Okay?

[sighs]Okay.

♪

[squeaking]

[yelps]

[squeaks, screeches]

[Walter yelping]

Whoa, whoa, get away.[Suki barking]

No, get away.

[light crashes] [yelling]

It's on me! It's on me!

[bat squeaking][yelps]

[camera clicks]

MOLLY: Just because someone says they're an expert,

doesn't always mean they are.

From now on,

I'm always going to check my information

before I pass it on.

I don't ever want to go through that again.

But, on the plus side,

when my mom gets back,

I get to show her this video of what happened

while she was gone.

[yelling][Suki barking]

[bat squawking]It's in my hair!

It's in my hair!

Get out, get out, get out! Get out, get out, get out!

[bat squawking]Phew.

Hey, everyone.

Molly here to answer your questions

about life in Alaska.

Kelsey in North Carolina asks,

"Who takes care of birds that are hurt?"

Let's find out.

GIRL : Today, we got to meet someone

named Sharon, and she brought an owl.

GIRL : It was a great horned owl.

GIRL : And he was really big.

GIRL : And his name was Mr. Hoot.

See this wing here?

And see this wing over here?

Can you see a difference in the wings? Okay.

'Cause that's what I'm gonna tell you about,

as far as why we have this bird

at Bird Treatment and Learning Center.

GIRL : The Bird Treatment and Learning Center

take care of birds

that were in wildlife that got injured.

GIRL : Mr. Hoot was found on the ground with a wing injury.

GIRL : He had got, uh, really nervous

so he went crazy with his wings.

And they'll even eat skunks.

Can you imagine that?

Then we read a sign

to help us learn more about owls.

"The great horned owl's thick feathers

"help it stay warm in the winter,

so it can live in Alaska year-round."

Great horned owls

that live in desert

or colder snowy environments have paler plumage

than those found in forest regions."

GIRL : I don't know what a plumage is.

Do any of you guys know what a plumage is?

See, dark plumage is dark.

And pale plumage is light.

Maybe plumage means feathers.

Yeah, could be.

It could mean, like, it could be feathers, like,

and the colors of the feathers.Yeah.

Yeah.

GIRL : The owl's plumage can be different colors,

depending on where they live.

GIRL : We figured that out by reading the sign

and looking at the pictures.

GIRL : I had a lot of fun today, and I liked learning about birds.

They're awesome.

Mahsi'choo.

Thanks for asking, and see you next time.

MOLLY: "The Clean Up Mix Up"

GRANDPA NAT: And why do we take care of the land?

[bird squawking]

Because if we take care of the land,

the land will take care of us.

[chuckling]: Exactly.

Which is why the badge you're earning today

is one of my favorites.

The...

Ooh, Wilderness Cleanup Badge!

Yay!

[Molly and Tooey chuckle]

Oh. [laughs]

I get excited about badges.

[chuckles] So do I.

This is the last area a Neegoo Tsal troop cleaned.

MOLLY: Wow.

TOOEY: What a difference.

And that's why the work you're doing today is so important.

Now, before we start the cleanup,

what's our Cleanup Wilderness Golden Rule?

Trash on the ground shouldn't be around.

That's right.

The land is beautiful just as it is.

Let's get cleaning.

Trash pickup party and everybody's invited.

TRAVIS: Including me?

[gasps] Travis?

[chuckles] If it isn't the great explorer himself,

all the way from Florida.

You're not looking for woolly mammoths again, are you?

[chuckles]No.

I've given up hunting for woolly mammoths.

I'm on a new hunt for...

T. rex?

TRINI: Ooh, ooh! Saber-tooth tigers?

No. No extinct animals.

I have a new and higher purpose.

I hunt for ways I can help save the environment.

♪ Amazing.

Grandpa Nat says that's what we're doing today.

Yeah! We're earning our Wilderness Cleanup Badges.

[gasps] Can I help?

They need to do it themselves to earn their badges.

MOLLY:But there's a lot of nature here.

Maybe you could find another place?

Good luck.

Bye, Travis.

♪

All right, here's your cleanup site.

♪

Campers haven't been very kind to this place over the years.

Man, oh, man.

What a mess.

MOLLY: Whew. You said it.

There's a small grove over that way.

I'll be there if you need me.

This place is perfect!

Perfect?Really?

Yeah! Perfect for earning that cleanup badge.

It's so messy, they should give us each two.

Trash on the ground...

ALL: ..shouldn't be around.

♪

♪

♪

♪

Wait till Grandpa Nat sees how great this looks.

Now let's clean up the creek.

[trimmer buzzing]Huh?

Um...

What's that sound?

♪

[gasping]

[humming]

Oh. [laughs] Hey, kids.

What do you think?

Uh...

What can I say?

Just fulfilling my mission

to save the planet.

[all exclaiming]

Nature!

MOLLY:Travis!

Yes?

Uh, lunch?

Ooh, great idea.

[birds chirping]

Lunch?

He can't whack down plants

with a sandwich in his hands.

♪

Travis?

Um, where did you learn how to do wilderness cleanup?

From this handy little book.

It's got all kinds of ways to make places more beautiful.

Like solar lights and neatly mown paths.

I mean, look how tidy that yard is.

Oh, I almost forgot.

"From Drab to Fab:

How to Beautify Your Florida Yard."

[gasps]

No wonder

Travis is doing everything wrong.

He's cleaning like it's a backyard in Florida,

not wilderness in Alaska.

TRAVIS: Ta-da!

♪

Is this great or what?

Uh, flamingos? In Alaska?

[laughs] Uh, silly me.

What am I thinking?

Phew.

For a second there, I thought--

oh, no.

TRAVIS: Penguins.

Penguins don't live in Alaska either.

[laughs] Good one.

[laughs, sighs]

Well, back to it.

The wilderness isn't gonna clean itself.

Onward, h*!

We'll never get our badges if he keeps this up.

His book may be great for yards in Florida,

but it is not how you clean up the wilderness in Alaska.

[gasps] That's it!

Since Travis likes getting advice from books,

we'll make him a new one.

One that tells him how to clean up the Alaskan wilderness.

Great idea!

I've got a notebook and colored pencils.

I'll find a place to work where Travis won't see me.

I'll keep him busy, so he can't mess up anything else.

And I'll try to undo the mess he's already made.

Whoo!

[trimmer buzzing]

[buzzing stops, handle clicking]

Since my weed whacker won't start...

Phew.

...guess I'll have to dig you up.

[yelling]

What?Uh, spider!

Spider! Save me!

[grunts] I don't see any spiders.

There, there.

Where? I can't see it.

♪

"From Trash to Treasure:

How to Beautify the Alaskan Wilderness."

"Step one:

Trash on the ground shouldn't be around."

Another spider.

Can't... [chuckles] can't really see.

[grunts]

I hope Molly gets that book done soon.

[Travis grunting]

Kinda hard to see here, Tooey.

[spluttering]

Whoa. [spluttering]

[grunts]

Step three...

Hmm... ah!

"Step three: Help each other."

[Trini grunting]

How is it going over there?

Uh, good. [grunting]

Uh, how's the book coming?

I think I'm done.

Great. Travis is really tired of carrying Tooey around.

[panting] Just hang here for a second.

I need to rest.

Whew.

[yelps]

[gasps] My bench! It's gone.

My lights and penguin too?

Where did they go?

Wait a minute.

Are you really afraid of spiders?

No.

If you didn't want my help, you could have just said so.

♪

[birds chirping]

Travis, I know you were trying to help clean up,

but the book you were using isn't right

for the kind of cleaning we're doing.

How to Beautify Your Florida Yard

is a top-rated published book.

But it's for yards, not wild places.

And it's for Florida, not Alaska.

I mean, look around, Travis.

The land is beautiful

just as it is.

Oh, my.

That's what we've been trying to tell you, Travis.

Nature doesn't need weed whacking

or plastic benches and birds.

We just need to take care of it.

I made this book to show you how.

From Trash to Treasure: How to Beautify the Alaskan Wilderness.

"Step one: Trash on the ground shouldn't be around.

"Step two: Protect the wildlife and native plants.

Step three: Help each other."

I'm sorry.

I really messed things up for you.

Will you still get your Wilderness Cleanup Badge?

Probably not.

Because of the weed whacking.

We're not supposed to damage native plants.

[sighs]

Aw, rats.

GRANDPA NAT: [clears throat]

You may not have earned the cleanup badge,

but...

But? But?

...this book qualifies you for the Eco-Educator Badge.

ALL: It does?

Mm-hmm.

Yay!

How? Why?

Remember how I said our most important job

is to take care of the land?

Uh-huh.

Because if we take care of the land...

ALL: ...the land will take care of us.

A big part of taking care of the land

is teaching others to care for it, too.

And this book does that for Travis.

You'll share it with other people, won't you, Travis?

Oh, absolutely.

If I do, can I get a badge, too?

[chuckles]

We might be able to arrange that.

[chuckles]

If you promise never to use a weed whacker again.

I promise. [laughs]

[laughter]

♪

♪

♪