Prickly is Leaving

"Prickly is Leaving" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of Recess which was originally broadcast on October 3, 1999.

Prickly is about to finally become a middle school principal, but celebrations are cut short when his replacement, Slicer, turns out to be even worse than he is.

Synopsis
Prickly gets a call: a middle school principal has been fired and he's been chosen to replace him. Prickly is overjoyed, but not as much as the students, who welcome a long break from him. However, Finster is not happy, for she and Prickly have history together.

Menlo is not happy either, but it's only because Prickly's replacement is an even worse man known only as Slicer. So TJ and his gang do everything they can to stop it. They fail, but TJ gives a heartwarming speech to Prickly just before he leaves. Prickly is touched, but Slicer is not amused, and he makes TJ wear a paper hat that says "Capt. Sappy" (earlier Slicer made TJ wear a hat that said "Funny Boy"). When Principal Prickly realizes that the Superintendent wouldn't pay him enough for the job, he decides to stay.

Trivia

 * In one scene, the gang tries to stop Prickly from leaving by presenting him with their best impressions of middle school problems (which are humorous but in a few cases, staggeringly accurate). They are as follows:
 * TJ replaces his jacket and hat with a red plaid shirt and a blue beanie respectively. He supposedly acts as an oppressed and disrespectful student as he yells at the superintendant after the latter asks him why he did not line up with the rest of the students ("That's because I reject you, man! You and everything you stand for!").
 * Gretchen acts like the sterotypical goth, complete with a totally different appearence, no glasses, black lipstick, red dyed hair (possibly a wig, as her hair is once again brown afterwards), black shirt and choker, chain necklace, and teal pants.
 * Vince wears a gray shirt with ripped off sleeves, red shorts with a black line down the sides, and no neckbands. It is possible by his demonstration that he is supposed to be a disturbed jock.
 * Mikey has (possibly) fake pimples all over his face, making it look like he's breaking out.
 * Gus just says he has father issues.
 * Spinelli's hair looks like it's blown back (similar to Hector's hairstyle) with a brown hairband in it. She also has a teal striped tank top, an orange skirt, blue stockings, and brown shoes. Her demonstration was to pretend to hit on Prickly with a magazine clutched over her chest, creeping him out especially.
 * Slicer bears a resemblance to Heinrich Himmler.

Cast

 * T.J. Detweiler - Andrew Lawrence
 * Vince LaSalle - Ricky D'Shon Collins
 * Ashley Spinelli - Pamela Segall-Adlon
 * Gretchen Grundler - Ashley Johnson
 * Mikey Blumberg - Jason Davis
 * Gus Griswald - Courtland Mead
 * Miss Finster/Gilda - April Winchell
 * Principal Prickly - Dabney Coleman
 * Randall Weems - Ryan O'Donohue
 * Menlo - Blake Ewing
 * Superintendent Skinner - John Astin
 * Dr. Slicer - Tim Curry
 * Haiku Generator Game Voice - Gregg Berger