Jupiter on the Loose (Fireman Sam)

"Jupiter on the Loose"
Norman's wish came true. And in a horrible way.
Series: Fireman Sam Part of Season: 8 Episode Number: 5 Air Date: Mar 31, 2012 (UK) June 3, 2014 (U.S) Previous episode: Water Tower Inferno Next episode: The Big Chill

Jupiter on the Loose is the 5th episode of season 8 of Fireman Sam.

Why Jupiter Was On The Loose

1. Look back at Open Day. In that episode, Norman wanted to prove himself to be a firefighter. I mean, Norman did this twice before! The writers have rehashed this episode, but its dial is turned up here.
   • Norman wanting to drive Jupiter was foreshadowed three years before this episode, and when it happened here, we knew he'd commit a crime!
2. Norman was even worse of a character than he already was in this episode. Not only did he commit underage driving without a license, but he even almost cost Derek and his own lives.
3. Terrible Moral: Playing a video game helps you learn to become your dream aspiration. Unless it is a job relating to video games, it doesn't work that way in the real world!
4. Even Elvis was unlikeable because he put his cottage pie on top of Jupiter, and before the episode ended, it broke and fell on the ground! His sheer stupidity got Norman and Derek in more trouble than before, making him an Idiot Houdini (as if he wasn't one already) and even a Karma Houdini.
5. Jupiter on the Loose even promotes underaged driving, which Norman does in this episode. Hell, he doesn't even get arrested for it! And guess what. That makes Norman a Karma Houdini.
6. Although Norman and Derek both get their comeuppance, it is Elvis' fault that he made their situation worse, as outlined in IODNSHWTDJNHMEWHGJOTL #4
7. Plot Hole: When, why, how, and what caused Elvis' pie to fall off Jupiter and break? Derek closing the right-hand door of Jupiter couldn't have quickly done that!!
8. Elvis complaining about his broken cottage pie shows how much of a baby he can sometimes be. You saved Norman and Derek's lives, and all you can think about is your pie being broken?! Pathetic!
9. Horrible Ending: Because Derek "ruined" Elvis' pie (that Elvis ruined himself by his sheer stupidity), he and Norman now had to bake a cottage pie, much to their annoyance.
   • And what makes the ending even worse is that Derek had gotten tortured by Norman's antics. He should have gotten a firefighter's badge because Derek is shown to be nicer and smarter than his cousin, Norman, but the writers characterised him as a scapegoat instead.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Sam, Derek, Station Officer Steele, Penny, Mandy, Dilys, James, and Sarah were the only likeable characters in this episode. Elvis was a likeable character in the first half of the episode but became unlikable after putting his cottage pie on top of Jupiter.
2. Dilys had every right to be enraged at Norman for his actions. She and Trevor were the most shocked when they saw him driving Jupiter.
   • "Oh! Norman's driving a fire engine!"
3. Sam reprimanding Norman about underage driving is executed very well, although the actual moral of the story wasn't done well in general.

Reception

It currently has a 4.2 on IMDb. Here's what one reviewer said about the episode.

Jupiter's juvenile joyriders!

"This is one of those memorable, also mildly bad Fireman Sam in CGI with Norman Price at his worst, again. He and his cousin, Derek, up to the whole know-it-all experts about being firefighters, from playing a video game. As they accompany rest of the pioneers, Sarah, James and Mandy, I don't know if expected Hannah Sparkes as well, otherwise some viewers question how Hannah got up the stairs in the fire station, whilst in her wheelchair. Sam and Penny show them like breathing apparatus, and different fire extinguishers, there's more stuff, like use stairs, and not the lifts, even evacuating a public building in event of a fire.

Quite unfortunate PC Malcolm Williams and Sergeant Ravani weren't in this episode, they could've had Norman in trouble, and in juvenile centre for stealing and driving a public services vehicle throughout the town, without driving license. Seems someone foolishly left keys in ignition, as to how Norman started up Jupiter's engineーit couldn't just roll downhill, like Sarah accidentally released handbrake in nurse Helen's ambulance, in the, "Car Wash Chaos" episode. Norman and Derek getting comeuppance in cooking another cottage pie after Elvis' first one ruined, though shouldn't have left it on top of Jupiter, in case Jupiter needed for emergency and Sam, Penny and Steele are unaware, surprised how it stayed on Jupiter's roof throughout Norman's joyriding, until it fell off when Derek closed driver's door."

— MarkLynnIreland1294, an IMDb reviewer

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