Melanie and the Detention

Melanie and the Television is the fifth episode of the first series of the 2005 animated series Melanie. It premiered on 11th May, 2005.

Premise
The episode begins with Edward dropping Melanie off to school. As she meets up with her friends, she becomes shocked when Ny tells her that the day is beginning with a "special" assembly. During the assembly, Mr. Crook informs the school that a new form of punishment is being implemented - detention. Those who misbehave are kept in during either break or lunch time. Melanie, however, doesn't pay attention during the assembly, so Ny has to recite everything to her as they are walking to class.

When they get back to class, Mr. Fleece tells the children that, since they will be going into Novice School next year, they will have to practice some maths equations. He gives everybody a sheet of sums, and tells the class to work together to find the correct answer. However, Melanie uses her sheet to make a paper airplane and flies it out the window. Whilst Melanie finds it hilarious, Mr. Fleece gets cross at her, and gives her a detention slip.

At break time, Melanie heads too Mr. Crook's office for detention. When she gets there, however, Mr. Crook confiscates the cola and chocolate bar she brings with her, telling her that she is not allowed to eat or drink at detention. He then demands her to sit down on a chair in his office. Melanie is shocked and annoyed at this. Elsewhere, Gabrielle, Ny and Ussuf are playing together, but find it boring without Melanie.

After break time, Melanie feels annoyed that she had her break time taken away from her. She decides to tie a rope between Mr. Fleece's table and a radiator pole, which causes Mr. Fleece to trip over and ruin one of his documents (due to the pen he is holding slipping). Once again, he scolds Melanie and gives her another detention.

Melanie goes back to Mr. Crook's office at lunch time, but notices that he is not in, but has left his key on his work desk, so Melanie sneaks in and locks the door. When Mr. Crook gets back, he becomes confused when he notices the door is locked, but hears Melanie giggling, and demands that she opens the door. However, Melanie is too busy laughing, so Mr. Crook goes to get help. He gets one of the janitors to use his keys to unlock the door. Melanie tries to run away, but Mr. Crook grabs her by the wrist and confiscates her lunch.

After lunch time, Melanie begins to feel hungry, and is not motivated to do anything. However, she gets told that another assembly is happening that afternoon. As the class are walking to assembly, Melanie is feeling in a bad mood. Ny tries to tell her to stop misbehaving so she stops getting detentions, but Melanie tells them that the teachers are in the wrong, not her.

At assembly, as Mr. Crook is giving a speech, Melanie grabs a few paper airplanes out from her bag and flies them towards him, disrupting the assembly. When this happens, Mr. Fleece grabs Melanie, takes her out of the hall and makes her sit on a chair whilst telling her that her behaviour needs to stop, or that she will be facing worse punishment.

Once the assembly is over, Vivienne and Edward arrive to pick Melanie up. Mr. Fleece and Mr. Crook tell them about Melanie's behaviour and the detention system. However, when they tell them about how Melanie has not eaten due to the detentions she has had, they get cross at the teachers, as do the other parents when they overhear the conversation. Feeling sorry for Melanie, Vivienne tells her that she will take her to a fast food restaurant.

Main characters

 * Melanie
 * Mr. Fleece
 * Mr. Crook

Major characters

 * Ny
 * Gabrielle
 * Ussuf
 * Julia

Minor characters

 * Edward
 * Vivienne
 * Gabrielle's parents
 * Ny's parents

Trivia

 * Future episodes indicate that the detention system has been scrapped following complaints.