"Tigger, Private Ear" is the second segment of the twenty-first episode of the first season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that aired on February 25, 1989.
Plot
Owl is reading a mystery book to Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit which tells the story about three souls (played by Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit) who gather at a mansion to hear from the Detective who has solved the Mystery of the Stolen Diamond. But before Owl can read to the others, it becomes dark in his house and he lights a candle but tells his friends that he can't see in the light without his reading glasses, which he lost. Tigger finds Owl's glasses on top of his head and Owl tells Tigger that he'd been a much better private eye than the hero of the book to which Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit agree, and this gives Tigger an idea about becoming a private ear. The next day Pooh goes to Tigger's House and notices a sign which says: "Tigger Private Ear: If You Can Lose It We Can Find It".
Tigger opens the door and calls Pooh, his first customer, and tells him to step in so he can solve his mystery for him. Once inside Tigger asks Pooh what the problem is, to which Pooh replies that he's run out of honey. Tigger then gets a pot of honey out of his cabinet, and decides to make a mystery and solve it in order to convince his private ear skills. That night, Tigger goes over to Piglet's house and tickles Piglet's nose causing Piglet to sneeze in his sleep and blow his nose warmer off his nose and then wakes Piglet up and acts like he just came over to check on Piglet to see if everything was okay to which Piglet notices that his nose warmer is missing.
Soon Tigger calls Rabbit and Pooh to Piglet's house and tells them about Piglet's nose warmer and asks Pooh and Rabbit where they've been, to which they both reply that they've been asleep. When Tigger asks Piglet where he's been, Piglet says he was in bed dreaming about picking daffodils, to which Tigger explains to the others that he has solved the mystery. He tells the others that Piglet sneezed in his sleep because he's alergic to daffodils and it caused him to blow his nose warmer off his face and onto the ceiling, to which Tigger points to the ceiling where Piglet's nose warmer is hanging on a ceiling lamp. Pooh and Rabbit call it amazing, to which Tigger replies, "No case is too small for Tigger Private Ear," and leaves. Another day goes by and Tigger still has no customers and decides to make another mystery to convince his skills.
That night, Tigger sneaks into Pooh's house while Pooh is asleep and steals one of his honeypots, but trips over a log which causes him to fall out of Pooh's house and break the honey pot into a million pieces. Then Tigger notices Rabbit's house and decides to steal a honeypot from him instead. The next day, Tigger and Piglet show up at Pooh's house and help him find his honeypot to which Tigger finds another honeypot in Pooh's clothes drawer, but then Rabbit comes in and takes the others to his house where he tells them that someone has stolen one of his honeypots too. Tigger volunteers to find it, and then he notices a honeybee and they follow it to Piglet's house where they find Rabbit's honeypot in Piglet's cupboard.
Piglet tells Rabbit that he didn't take his honeypot, but Rabbit doesn't believe him so the gang puts Piglet on trial with Gopher as the judge, Tigger as the detective, Rabbit as the defends attorney, and Pooh, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga, and Roo as the jury. Piglet tells the jury that he didn't take Rabbit's honeypot and Tigger calls himself as a witness and tells the jury that Piglet didn't take the honeypot and that he was framed for the crime. When he imagines his friends as honeypots he confesses to taking the honeypot and putting in Pooh's house so everyone would think that he was a great private ear. Gopher says that the court finds Piglet not guilty and Piglet thanks Tigger for helping him clear up his charge.
Later Tigger, Rabbit, Pooh, and Piglet go to Tigger's house where Tigger paints the sign off his door and tells his friends that he's decided to give up private ear and become a lawyer. As the episode is about to end, Tigger reaches out and pulls out a sign saying: "Tigger: A Tigger at Law: If You Can Find it We Can Lose it For Ya". He then sticks his head out, says, "Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" and smiles at the audience, and the episode ends.
Characters
- Winnie the Pooh
- Piglet
- Tigger
- Rabbit
- Eeyore
- Owl
- Gopher
- The Bees (one only; does not speak)
- Kanga (cameo)
- Roo (cameo)
- Sherlock Holmes (not named, in Owl's book)
Trivia
- Kanga and Roo appear but have no speaking role in this episode.
- As Tigger was explaining to the friends about how Piglet lost his nose warmer, when he showed off Piglet dreaming about him picking daffodils, he revealed a pot of dandelions instead.
- When Tigger gives Piglet the nosewarmer, Pooh's nightcap was missing, but when Pooh's back in bed, his nightcap was on his head.
- Tigger did not end his detective career; he also did mysteries in "Sham Pooh" and "Eeyore's Tail Tale".
- Owl's story that he read from a book in the beginning and Tigger's private ear outfit are loosely based on Sherlock Holmes.