The Angry Beavers Finale "A Tail of Two Rangers/Bye Bye Beavers" (2001 Unaired Episode)



Produced sometime in 2001, and intended to air as the finale of The Angry Beavers, was a standard double feature episode titled "A Tail of Two Rangers/Bye Bye Beavers". While not much is known about the first segment (besides that fact that Norbert and Daggett try to become park rangers), it was the second segment that caused controversy amongst Nickelodeon staff, and led to the entire episode never being aired.

"Bye Bye Beavers" involved the Beavers receiving mail stating that they were in fact cartoon characters (much to their surprise), and that their show had been cancelled. They begin fading away and go on to break the fourth wall, with the voice actors calling each other by their real names, and criticising the fact that after cancellation, cartoons continue to rerun without any payment being received by the creators. At the very end of the episode, they both yell "APRIL FOOLS!" implying that the episode was not intended to be the last (this went on to spawn a rumor that the show was cancelled because of the Bye Bye Beavers segment), though most believe this to be false, and believe that the creators made the episode in retaliation to the show being cancelled.

Nickelodeon was far from pleased with the episode, namely due to the criticism of reruns, and the fact that the episode broke a Nickelodeon "rule" which stated that no final episode of a show is allowed to allude to the fact that the show is ending. As such, the episode was never broadcast (although there are claims that it was broadcast in Australia and Europe; these claims, however, are entirely unverified).

In 2006, during an interview with Richard Horvitz on avimelman.com, the audio for the entire segment was played, and has been rapidly circulated since. Is it not currently known whether the episode was even animated, nor whether the audio leaked is the final product (as you can seemingly hear crew members laughing in the background). While rumors surrounding this episode abound (all mostly unverified), it is unlikely we will ever see the finished product; even if the episode was animated, due to the nature of it's broadcast removal, it's unlikely Nickelodeon will ever see reason to release it.