Little Bill Specials

The actor who portrays Captain Brainstorm, the star of Little Bill's favorite TV show, Space Explorers, is making a public appearance at the local mall. Brenda takes Little Bill, Fuschia, Andrew, and Kiku to the shopping mall to meet their idol, and Little Bill is especially excited since he took the time to create a Captain Brainstorm picture book as a gift for the actor. When their turn comes to pose for a photo, the other children rush up to the stage, but Little Bill suddenly becomes shy and doesn't want to go up. Brenda says it's okay to be nervous around strangers and offers to take everyone out for lunch. As they eat their pizza, Kiku tries to cheer Little Bill up by asking him to read his story book to them. Little Bill tells a tale of how Captain Brainstorm landed his spaceship in the Glover's back yard and asked Little Bill to come with him to the planet Yubba to rescue the other Space Explorers. After asking permission from Brenda, Little Bill happily agrees to go along, and his pet hamster Elephant sneaks aboard the ship. When they get to Yubba, Captain Brainstorm explains that the other explorers are trapped in a cave by a giant robot, and he needs assistance to save them. Little Bill suggests they find the key to shut the robot off, and must summon all his courage when they discover he's the only one small enough to fit through a hatch they found in the robot's back. He bravely enters the robot's opening, finds the shutoff key, and the operator of the machine, a small alien named Max. Max states he built the robot to be friendly because he's too shy to approach people due to his small stature, and wanted to be bigger, but he accidentally got the robot's foot stuck in the cave and didn't mean to trap Captain Brainstorm's friends. Little Bill convinces Max he should face up to his fears and learn to make friends, and introduces him to Elephant and Captain Brainstorm. Max suggests that they all use Captain Brainstorm's ship to attempt to pull the robot out of the cave, and the Space Explorers are saved, thanks to Max and Little Bill. When Little Bill finishes his story, Brenda suggests they make a second attempt to approach the actor playing Captain Brainstorm, and tells her son to follow the lessons he wrote in his story. Fortunately, Captain Brainstorm hasn't left yet, and Little Bill shyly goes over to the man and introduces himself; he gives Captain Brainstorm the picture book,and Brenda asks if she can take a photo of him and the children. The performer happily obliges, and puts Little Bill on his shoulder for the shot while Andrew, Kiku and Fuschia stand in front.

Little Bill is in his room playing with his Captain Brainstorm toys when he notices that his spaceship has stopped making noise and blinking its lights. He brings the toy to his father, and Big Bill deduces the toy needs new batteries, but they are out of the kind it needs and they'll have to go to the store. Little Bill offers to go to the store by himself, but Big Bill says he's not old enough to go anywhere alone yet. Disappointed, Little Bill goes outside to watch April and Bobby play basketball; he asks to join in the game, only to have his siblings tell him he's too little to reach the basket. Frustrated at having everyone tell him he's too little to do anything, Little Bill retreats to his room and begins drawing a story. He imagines that his alien friend, Max, has returned to ask Little Bill if he can come with him to another planet to rescue Captain Brainstorm. Little Bill gladly obliges, and when they reach the other planet, they find that the inhabitants, the Purple Burples, are gigantic, and have to be very careful not to get stepped on while locating Captain Brainstorm. When they find the Space Explorer, he explains that he was making a distress call on behalf of the Burples, not himself. It turns out the Burples were attempting to change a power switch for their space station when the battery fell and dropped behind a small grate, and even Captain Brainstorm is too large to fit through the opening and retrieve it. Little Bill thinks he might be small enough to fit, and he reaches in to get the battery. Having saved the day, Bill returns home. Just as he's finishing his story, Big Bill comes back from the store with the battery for the toy and fixes it. Suddenly, they hear Bobby and April yelling outside and rush to see what's happened; their basketball has rolled under the porch steps and they can't fit under to find it. Seeing an opportunity to imitate his story, Little Bill easily goes under the stairs and retrieves the ball, making him realize that sometimes being little isn't a bad thing after all.