Against Whit’s express orders, Eugene and Connie tamper with a top secret computer room–and the mysterious program Applesauce is unleashed.

Official summary

Plot Summary — A Bite of Applesauce is a short allegorical episode about The Fall. It ties into the Blackgaard Chronicles because it introduces the computer program “Applesauce” and tells us that it is a top-secret important program. After it is introduced, Whit tells Eugene never to touch Applesauce and not to tell anyone about the computer room itself either. However, one day Eugene needs to use the computer when Whit is gone. Connie becomes curious and follows Eugene, finding the hidden computer room. Eugene tells her to keep it top-secret and not to touch Applesauce. The next morning, while Whit is gone fishing with Tom, Donna tells Connie that they can’t turn on the train set. Connie realizes that it must need to be turned on on the computer and goes up into the computer room. She sees Applesauce and wants to look at it, but decides against it. However, she accidentally loads the program anyways. Eugene comes to try to help her stop the program when he hears her screaming, and it finally stops. Eugene suggests that they don’t talk about the incident, but Whit finds out. Reluctantly, he fires both Eugene and Connie. The episode ends.

Thoughts — I like this episode a lot. This is a very old episode (first aired May 20th, 1989), and in some ways it shows, but in other ways it seems ahead of its time. First of all, the production is different than the production on modern episodes, but it is still surprisingly good. The computer is extremely sophisticated for a computer of 1989, and so this was a science fiction episode when it first aired; now, however, talking computers are commonplace with some people having one in their watch nowadays rather than taking up a whole room like in the episode. I believe this is the first episode where Whit’s involvement with the US Government and “The Agency” is brought up. This is brought up multiple times throughout the course of the series, notably in the Blackgaard Chronicles. We later find out that Whit worked on Applesauce with Tasha Forbes.

Trivia:

  • Though the episode doesn’t have a parental warning, I was always scared of this episode when I was 7-8 years old and would skip it when listening through the Blackgaard Chronicles, which has some arguably worse episodes including death. For more about this, you can read my post about Episodes I Consider Classics.
  • In Let This Mind Be in You, Connie mentions that she can’t turn off the mirror in the Bible Room because it no longer has a plug. It is wired directly into the wall. In A Bite of Applesauce, Donna says the same thing about the train set.
  • A map showing the computer room was released in the Complete Guide. Here’s where the secret computer room is, in relation to Whit’s office:

Please do let me know if you’d like to read more reviews of episodes in The Blackgaard Chronicles, my favourite AIO saga. Also, I’ve got something brewing for an upcoming post that you won’t want to miss!