That’s So Raven: Food for Thought

From my perspective, if I had to pick a favorite episode from the Disney Channel Original series That’s So Raven, it would definitely be the Season 3 episode Food for Thought, to be precise. The reason why is, I find it to be a good one to watch, as well as be inspired to write by, too. Also, Raven comes to a realization about the visions she has in the episode; they’re not only the bad kind, they’re also shown to be harmful if they eventually did come true as well. (So she does her best to put a stop to those visions, and succeeds as a result.) 😎😇

The episode begins at Bayside High School. Raven and Chelsea are at their lockers, and turn to see the other students walk by them (with some of them looking to be in various stages of excitement). Raven and Chelsea begin wondering where everyone is going, and Eddie walks by before stopping to tell them they’re going to the cafeteria.

Raven: (in disbelief) Our cafeteria? (scoffs) People are normally running away from that place.

Eddie replies that he heard some company had taken over the lunch program at Bayside High. So, they follow everyone to the cafeteria.

Much to the surprise of Chelsea, Eddie, and Raven, as soon as they arrive at the cafeteria, they find a food court, which is just like the ones that are usually found at a shopping mall.

Eddie: (sounding excited) Man! A food court in school? Cha, this is like being at the mall, y’all.

Raven: (sounding giddy herself) Man, if they put a shoe store in the gym, I may never go home!

Then, a judge named Judge Foody (who happens to be a parody of Judge Judy) appears; she reveals that the food court is literally a court and merely a trial program that, when passed by the students, will be sent on to all other schools.

However, because of her being a vegetarian, as well as an advocate of eating healthy and exercising properly, Chelsea is both upset and in rejection at the idea, because everything is junk food:

Raven: (after Judge Foody’s speech about the food court) Well, I’m sure we all came to a verdict when I say, “Let’s eat!” (The other students begin cheering)

Chelsea: (angrily) I object! (At her words, the other students stop and murmur to each other in surprise and confusion)

Raven: (turns to Chelsea, puzzled herself) What? Oh, Chels...

Chelsea: I’m sorry, but I don’t see any healthy choices.

Raven and Eddie stuff their faces with food such as giant hot dogs and onion rings, while Chelsea worries about them.

When they get to Raven’s house after school, and Chelsea suggests they go out and get some fresh air (as well as exercise), Raven and Eddie turn down her offer. Finally, she queries if they knew what the food from the food court is doing to them. 

Although Raven initially dismisses Chelsea’s claims by saying that nothing is wrong with them “or... this delicious food,” she changes her mind when she gets a vision of Eddie and the other students at school with a rump the size of their heads (and she discovers she has one when she turns to look at her reflection in a classroom window, and the sequins break off the seat of her pants when she shakes it a little). After coming out of the vision, Raven realizes Chelsea’s hunch about the food court was right, while also agreeing with Chelsea when Chelsea points out that Raven’s vision could come true if she keeps eating there:

Raven: (to Chelsea, after she comes out of the vision) Oh, I saw the future, and it was huge! It was like Attack of the Giant Booties!

Chelsea: Really? Wh-What’d you see?

Raven: Well, the whole school was getting fat, Chels. I’m talking about a lot of ‘junk in the trunk,’ homie.

Chelsea: See, Rae? See, now that could be your future if you keep eating at the food court.

Raven: (sees Chelsea’s point) You’re right, Chels. I’m done with the food court.

Chelsea: Good.

With that, Raven gives up her habit of eating at the food court and decides to help Chelsea out with her campaign against it.

Raven: (to the other students) People, people, listen to me... please listen to me. Put down the pies. Do not maximize. You got to exercise! Or the scales will rise, and so will your thighs!

Eddie: Who wants some fries?

After Raven gets a vision where Judge Foodie is on her cellphone talking to someone about the kids voting yes to the food court and it means putting the food courts into all schools, she and Chelsea decide to take action in order to prevent this from happening. So, they take samples of the food and show the other students what is actually in the food on the final day.

Afterwards, Chelsea rolls in a helium tank and uses it to inflate Raven’s tracksuit, and Raven gives a demonstration on how fat they would get. She then informs them that it is OK to eat junk food (but only once in a while), but if a person eats it all the time, they would get really sick.

Raven tells Chelsea to turn off the helium tank, but Chelsea breaks the knob, and Raven inflates out of control, eventually floating and flying wildly when Chelsea takes out the nozzle. The food court closes, and the school returns to normal.

Full House: Tanner’s Island

Danny takes the Tanners and his co-host Rebecca Donaldson to Hawaii in honor of their two-year anniversary since becoming a family. Once there, however, Danny takes charge, being his usual controlling self, and marks all the families’ activities together on what he calls a “Clipboard of Fun”.

Among the various activities they do, he and the family decide to take an off-site trip to the Hawaiian island of Pua for a picnic and a Polynesian show. They stop for a rest on a (seemingly) deserted island. However, Danny realizes he did not tie up the boat correctly, which means that (for now) the family is stranded. Meanwhile, Joey thinks he is seeing an attractive hula girl, and Jesse and Rebecca have an argument about Elvis Presley (Jesse’s music idol), until they get over it in the end.

Thanks to a speech from D.J. after she gets their attention using a shell as a horn, the adults set aside their differences, and the family builds a hut to stay in until they are found. That evening, Hawaiian inhabitants of the island find the gang and escort them to the Polynesian show on the other side of the island. It turns out that they really were on Pua, just the wrong side of it.

They end up dancing with everyone on the show. Joey, in fact, actually sees the hula girl he’d been imagining all day, and they both decide to dance together. At the end, Rebecca speaks with one of the musicians, and they’ve decided to play “Rock-a-Hula” by Elvis Presley, with Jesse singing lead.

Full House: Back to School Blues

Oh, the tween angst! It’s the first day of junior high for D.J. Tanner (Candace Cameron Bure) and she’s learning the hard way that she’s not in elementary school anymore.

The new school year is starting. Stephanie, who is entering 2nd grade, is the only Tanner left in her school, and she expects a bad day at school. But instead, against her expectations, it turns out to be a good day for her (including being chosen as the Room 7 official fish feeder).

The same can’t be said for D.J., who is entering 7th grade, which is a step closer to becoming a teenager. On her first day at Van Atta Junior High, D.J. is separated from her best friend Kimmy except for sixth period Spanish, humiliated by a mean girl Colleen and her gang, a squad of girls dressed like tarts, discovers that she’s wearing the same outfit as Mrs. Agbabian, the annoying lunch lady, and has to eat lunch in a phone booth.

The next morning, D.J., along with Kimmy, decides to put on makeup. The reason why is because she believes the only way to fit in among the other students is to do what virtually the other 7th graders are doing when they put on makeup - look twice as old as she really is. Danny thinks D.J. is overdoing it, so he lets Rebecca help D.J. with the makeup.

The next day, Kimmy’s schedule changes so that she and D.J. can have the same lunch, especially with D.J.’s new friends from her English class, Karen Sykes and Susan Ericson, who are sitting at Colleen’s gang’s table. Colleen refuses to sit with scrubs (her name for people like D.J.), saying, “I’d rather eat in a phone booth”. So she and her gang split up and go eat at different tables.

Meanwhile, Joey tries to teach Jesse how to play golf in order to impress a golfing client.