Space Spoof Prank Patrol

Today, Joe 'Smiler' Alti joins the Prank Patrol. His mission?

To give his best friend an out of this world experience,

by bringing him face-to-face with an alien.

It's time to pull off an interstellar prank

of galactic proportions. This is Prank Patrol,

where we help people pull off the prank of their lives.

# Here they come, they're on a roll Where they'll strike nobody knows

# If you have a point to prove

# They'll make a plan and see it through

# They'll sign you up to join their crew, Barney and The Ninjas too

# Here we go, come on Join the Prank Patrol. #

That's definitely our prankster. Let's get him.

Ah, yes, right. Go!

-Are you Joe?

-Yeah, I am.

-Did you want Prank Patrol's help?

-Yeah!

Congratulations. Welcome to the team.

You're going to need your pass, making you a VIP,

a Very Important Prankster.

Well done. Hi, Dad. You're also going to need this, mate.

Lovely. Oh, look at that, it's meant to be, obviously.

-Dad, I need to borrow him, OK?

-No problem.

-Lovely. Joe, follow me.

-Helmet off The Ninja. Comfortable?

-Yes.

Then we shall begin. See you later.

-Bye, Dad.

-See you, Ninja.

Meet our newest prankster, 10-year-old Joe Alti.

This fun-loving legend loves football

and has won loads of trophies. But his favourite hobby

is photography. So let's get this prankster to work.

And make it snappy. Welcome to the Prank Van.

Take a seat.

-Let's talk business. Who are we pranking?

-My best friend, Charlie.

Your best friend, Charlie. And why Charlie?

When I want to play out, he'll ask me,

"I want a go on your MP3".

So you want to go out and play, and have fun, and he's like,

"I might listen to my MP3 player"?

-MINE, not his.

-To yours? That's just cheeky.

We don't like cheekiness, unless we're being cheeky.

Before we talk about his prank, let's check out Ninja surveillance.

Just find out what we are dealing with here. Have a look.

Joe and Charlie have been best mates for ages. And when Charlie's

not on Joe's MP3 player, they love to play computer games,

gaze at the stars and read quest books.

Joe describes Charlie as fun, friendly and a gullible geezer.

The perfect combo for an astronomical prank.

-So that's Charlie, is it?

-Yeah.

He looks ripe for the pranking, as we say in the business.

He's gullible. That's a good thing, we like that at Prank Patrol.

But, we need to talk ideas. Got any?

Well, we're both interested in space.

A space prank? I like it. And what would happen in space?

-Well, it could be an alien prank.

-Oh, brilliant, yeah, love alien pranks.

OK, so we've got an alien. What's happening?

We could send a fake message out to the alien and then we get a reply

to say, "Help, my ship's crashing!"

-So, the alien's going to crash...

-We go to investigate...

-Yeah?

-And you could be the alien.

-I'm the alien? If you'd said The Ninjas,

we'd have been in trouble, because they have weird faces!

The alien crashes, yeah? Then what?

Smoke, sparks, and then you come down, off the ship and run after us.

That's awesome. One of those. Top idea for a prank.

-Hey, why are aliens messy tea drinkers?

-Don't know.

With a flying saucer, it's hard not to spill it!

-That's not funny.

-No?

OK. Well, lots to be getting on with, then. Ninjas! Tell 'em, Joe!

Take us to Prank HQ.

The blueprint for Joe's alien prank is...

One fake, super, star-gazing telescope.

A crackers scientist. Coupled with some bogus star footage,

alien communications and a space ship crash-landing,

and you've got the perfect ingredients

for an out-of-this-world prank.

-Here we go, Joe, welcome to Prank HQ. What do you think?

-It's amazing!

This is where all the pranking and the scheming happens.

-Where do you want to start?

-With your alien costume.

Good choice. Follow me. So, here we are, Joe.

Welcome to the design wall.

Now, it's your prank, your idea, so it's your alien.

It's all about the design of it.

How would you like me to look, as an alien?

Well, you could have really big eyes.

OK. My, Grandma, what big eyes you have. I'm ready for that.

Are they going to be on sticks or on top of his head?

-Normal eyes, three eyes?

-Sticks.

Let's have a go at that then.

-And then two stalks.

-Hair like that.

-Yeah, aliens have hair. That's cool.

-His face could do that.

-That looks a bit like a mouth, doesn't it?

-How about having two mouths on the side of his face?

-Yeah.

-We could have tubes coming out of him?

-Yeah!

-To go into the spaceship?

His body could curl, like his face does, and then tubes.

That's the scariest alien I've ever seen.

Joe, when Charlie sees me jump out, what's he going to do?

Freak and run away.

Perfect. This is Prank Patrol after all.

-Happy with the finished design?

-Yeah.

Ninjas? Get that design to Daz, quickly.

We've got to make a 3D mask from it. It's got to look like an alien.

The eyes on top, nostrils down here,

mouths on the side. We're going to try and scare Charlie. Good? Good.

Ninjas!

Hello.

Get off my bananas. Leave it!

Oi! That's it, I'm having you!

Oi!

Oi, give me that back!

Oi! Yeah, you better run.

What's your game?

Leave it.

Oi, give me that back!

SCREAMS

LAUGHTER

Joe, in order to convince Charlie that the alien is going to be real,

we have to make an alien sound that convinces him.

-That's why I've brought Mike.

-Hi, Joe.

Joe's designed an alien already but we haven't got a sound for it.

Where do we start?

Firstly, how do you want the alien to sound?

Well, he could sound like he's really scared, so he's like screaming.

He's about to crash, so he's not happy.

We'll get you to record some sounds.

We'll add some effects, maybe reverse it,

so we can't recognise you and see how it sounds, yeah?

It has to be unrecognisable, that's important.

Whenever you're ready, go.

Hi, Charlie, it's Joe.

-I'm pranking you on Prank Patrol and it's going good.

-Nice.

Ooh, aah! I'm crashing!

OK.

DEEP, DISTORTED GROANS

-That's awesome.

-Yeah.

-Like it?

-Yeah.

-Let's have another go.

I'll have a go at this as well, because I am actually the alien.

-When you're ready.

-Hi, Charlie, it's Barney.

I'm the alien in the spaceship. It's not a real spaceship

because it's made of wood. You've been pranked by the Prank Patrol.

We'll do the same effects we did to Joe's voice...

DEEP, DISTORTED GROANS

-That's quite scary as well, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Is he going to fall for this?

-Yeah, he's gullible. He'll do what I say.

-Perfect. Mike, great work.

-It was a pleasure.

That's the sound sorted. Let's see our alien.

-Joe, meet Daz. Daz, meet Joe.

-Hiya, Joe, how are you doing?

Daz is our top expert at Prank HQ when it comes to costumes.

The Ninjas have forwarded the details of Joe's design to you.

-Joe, any questions?

-How's it coming on?

Really well, you've come just at the nick of time, Joe.

I've done the plaster mould, painted latex on it

and the finished alien is underneath that cloth.

-The alien?

-The one...

-We're using?

-..and only.

-For the prank?

Finished? That Joe designed?

-Yes.

-Right there?

-Under there.

Quite exciting. Drum roll, please.

There's sticks in your SWAT vest. OK, are you ready for this?

Oh, it's alive!

-Or, it's Ninjas messing with the controls. Happy with that?

-Yes.

And the eyes actually move and everything?

What is Charlie's reaction going to be like?

Freak, run and scream.

-Perfect, Daz, what do you think?

-Definitely.

What's sorted? The sound effect,

the actual alien. We're ready to go on this prank.

One thing to do, before we go. Ninjas! Tell 'em, Joe.

-Load the van!

-Now.

So, here we are, Joe.

Prank location. What do you think?

It's amazing. It's got the dish.

That's where you'll be communicating with the alien.

Which is then going to crash in this field.

-Shall we go and find the crash site?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

Joe, if that's the satellite dish,

where are we going to say the crash site is, for the ship?

It could come in for entry there

-and then it digs up soil on its way and lands here.

-Good idea.

A spaceship wouldn't land like that.

It would drag the soil. Great idea!

-This is our crash site.

-But where's the spaceship?

Don't worry about that.

HE WHISTLES

-Hiya, Pete.

-Hey, how are you?

-Not bad. This is Joe.

-Pleased to meet you.

-And you, Pete.

Our crash site's sorted, but we need your help.

It needs to look like a spacecraft entry.

It needs to dig up the soil and then we could have grass being destroyed,

like a half broken tree or something.

No problem. I have hard hats, shovels and the Ninjas told me

about the spacecraft, which I've got in the back.

-Lovely. Shall we get to it then?

-Yeah, let's go for it.

-Nice one.

-One for you. One for you.

-Thank you.

We may need a bit of help with this, Pete?

-Yeah, definitely.

-Joe?

-Ninjas!

Perfect. Come on, you two. Let's grab some boxes and get started.

I believe that Charlie will think that's a genuine crash site,

because when all the effects are in, it's going to look amazing.

Barney and Pete were really good at helping with the ship,

but the Ninjas were just rubbish at building.

Excellent, Joe. Well done.

So that's it, Joe. The spaceship has landed. Are you happy?

Yeah, it's well cool, but it still needs dressing.

We still need to get the trench done, effects, smoke...

I know who can sort that out for us. Ninjas!

Get Joe what he wants, please. Thank you very much.

And while they're sorting that out, here's a prank you can do at home.

Got a friend who's a real control freak?

Well, freak them out big time, baby, with today's prank.

All you need is some black electrical tape.

First, turn the volume way up on a TV and then switch it off.

Next, cut a tiny piece of black

electrical tape and cover the little glass eye on the end of the remote.

That's the part that sends out signals.

Finally, sit back and watch the fun.

Your friend's frustration will build

as they frantically try to control the world around them.

Setting the tone for the final punch line of your prank.

LOUD TV STATIC

And if all goes well, you'll be the one in control of the laughs.

-Joe, you see that big satellite dish behind us?

-Yeah.

Of course you can, it's massive. Well, that satellite dish

is very, very powerful.

It can send messages to space, receive messages from space,

it can see us from space.

That satellite dish can even see our spaceship fly from space,

enter the earth's atmosphere and crash into a field.

Can it do all of that?

No, it can't. But Charlie won't know that.

No, he won't, so we need our own spaceship footage.

We've got somebody on it. Follow me.

-Mike, how's it going?

-We've got the communication system

where we recorded the alien sounds

and the satellite system we've been talking about,

that can see anywhere in space, including our fake spaceship.

-It is amazing.

-Will Charlie fall for it?

-Yeah, he will.

But bear in mind that so far,

all we have is just some spacecraft graphics on a computer screen.

So, we went to shoot footage of Joe

to mix with the space graphics, so Charlie will believe

that our satellite dish really can see anything in the universe.

As long as Joe wears the same clothes and holds the same sign,

Charlie will think it's all happening for real.

Joe, this is the part of the prank where I get quite nervous.

I can imagine how you're feeling. We're about to call Charlie.

-Yeah.

-And we're going to make sure

that Charlie is going to be here so we can prank him.

What does he know so far? What have you told him?

That I've won a competition to name a star at an observatory

in Manchester, and I found out today what the observatory was going to be.

He doesn't know where it is?

We're saying, that's where it is, make sure you're there?

-Yeah.

-Are you ready for this?

-Yeah.

-OK, here we go.

PHONES RINGS

'Hello?'

-Hi, Charlie. It's Joe.

-'Hi.'

I've won a competition to name a star,

at Jodrell Bank, and it's tomorrow.

They said I'm allowed to bring one friend, so I've chosen you.

'OK.'

My mum's going to ring you about what time it is tomorrow.

'OK.'

-OK, so, see you.

-'OK.'

-Bye.

Well, that was dead easy, wasn't it?

"Charlie, be here. It's going to be there." "OK."

-Is that what he's like?

-Yeah.

"Charlie, a spaceship!" he'll say, "OK"?

-Yeah.

-Excellent. Well, listen, that's it then.

-Phone call done. Feel better?

-Yeah, lots.

One of those. Let's go.

So, will our prankster make his best friend, Charlie,

believe that he's made contact with aliens?

Will Charlie fall for the spaceship

crash-landing? Or, will the prank just crash and burn?

UFO? You find out, right now.

The last time we were here things looked different.

We'd just started the trench.

It's all dug-out now to show the crash-landing.

-You wanted special effects. What have you got?

-Special effects!

We've got fire, smoke, all courtesy of Prank Patrol's

top special effects guy, who's in here.

-All right, Ben?

-Hey, Barney.

-How are you doing?

-Good.

-This is Joe.

-Hi, Joe.

-Hi, Ben.

-Talk us through what you've been doing.

We've got pockets of flame and a smoke machine.

Getting a little too smoky!

And we're going to put some sparks around the front here.

All special effects sorted. Happy?

When it hits the ground, we need a big "kaboom".

Do we have kabooms?

Yeah, I've got some rigged. Follow me.

The reason we need this kaboom is so Charlie believes

a spaceship has actually crash-landed.

Right, OK. I've got some explosions set over here.

-This is Dan on the firing box.

-Hi, Dan.

-And if you can give me a three, two, one, we can set some off.

-OK.

-Do we need the earplugs in first?

-Earplugs in first.

Three, two, one.

TINY BANG

Well, it was all right. Joe, what do you think?

I think we could do bigger and louder.

Bigger and louder? OK. Dan.

Three, two, one.

LOUD EXPLOSION

Well, it was louder. I liked that one. What do you think?

It was brilliant. But can we do it even bigger and even louder?

OK, but we're going to have to step back for this one.

Come on, step back.

ALL: In three, two, one.

LOUD EXPLOSION

-That was pretty good, wasn't it?

-That was brilliant.

-Big enough?

-Yeah.

Will Charlie believe that is a spaceship landing?

-Yes.

-Good, job done. Thanks for that, Ben. Cheers.

-You're welcome.

Excellent. The special effects are sorted.

All we need to do is meet Rob.

He's your Prank Patrol actor. Follow me.

-Hello, Rob.

-Hello, chaps.

-How's it going?

-Splendid.

-How are you?

-Hi, Rob.

-You look the part.

I'm very excited. What are you doing?

Putting the finishing touch to a special effect.

Any questions for Rob, before we go?

-How's it coming?

-Superb. But I have a question

you might be able to help with.

Hat on, hat off? What do you think?

-Hat on, please.

-Good choice.

-Looks the part, that.

-Splendid.

-Cameras rolling?

-Set, ready to go.

-Thanks. How are you feeling?

A little bit nervous but mainly excited.

-Is Charlie going to fall for this?

-Yeah, he will.

Awesome. Let's get my space costume on. Thank you.

Hang on, what are you two doing here? Joe, tell 'em.

-Ninjas, hide the van.

-Quick!

See you later. One of those. Ta-ra.

To recap, the blueprint for Joe's alien prank is...

One fake, super, star-gazing telescope. A crackers scientist.

Coupled with some bogus star footage, alien communications

and a spaceship crash-landing and you've got the perfect ingredients

for an out-of-this-world prank.

It's prank time!

Here's Joe with his best mate, Charlie.

And there's Rob, our Prank Patrol actor,

who introduces himself as Dr Robert Johnson.

Rob's going to put the boys into visitor vests

which contain hidden microphones so we can hear everything they say.

It's time to let this intergalactic pranking commence.

This is Stargazer 4000 and this is

one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world.

It can beam signals so far into space. But, the other cool thing

that this can do is it can see back down to earth, as well.

We've got a cool little experiment that we show. I know you're here

to name your star, but we can show you something in a second.

Great work, Rob, although I'm not convinced by the science

you've just told the boys.

But Charlie seems to be buying it, so let's start the experiment

with our tech whizz, Mike.

You're here because you won the competition to name the star.

But, you know I mentioned that experiment?

-Do you remember that, Charlie?

-Yeah.

-This is very, very cool.

You know I said that uses 400 satellites to look out into space?

You wouldn't believe how far back it can see.

-You like Bond films, spy films?

-Yeah.

When they're looking from space and can see someone walking?

Normally, they can't really do that but here, we can.

Do you want to see how that works?

Joe, can you get a bit of paper for me?

I want you to write a message on there. Basically,

what we're going to do is Joe's going to go outside

and we'll be able to see this from one billion light years away.

-Cool.

-Which sounds incredible. Are you ready with that, Joe?

-I'll leave my hat there.

-OK.

Charlie seems to be falling for our fake technology,

but let's see if he really believes that Joe can be seen from space.

He's put the co-ordinates in to just outside. Watch.

That is live, now. Hello.

Hello, Joe. That is coming from SO far away in space.

It's not really come from space, but Charlie doesn't know that.

Good job, Ninjas. Off goes Rob to get Joe, because it's now time

-to try out our alien communicator.

-You see this "send message" here?

That's the interstellar comm-receiver.

You will not see this technology anywhere else on the planet.

Yeah, but mostly because it doesn't exist.

This enables us to send vocal messages into space.

But what the technology does,

it translates it to 2,000 different languages.

-How many languages can you think of?

-Spanish.

-Latin, German.

-Portuguese.

Portuguese, brilliant. There's lots and lots and lots.

None of those are these languages.

We use interstellar languages. Basically, you can send a message

-into the microphone. Is it live now?

-It is live, yeah.

Charlie, literally say, "Anybody out there?"

-Anything, into the microphone.

-Hello.

ELECTRONIC BEEPING

No response. I mean, that's kind of what we'd expect.

Joe, do you want to have a go? Say something in.

Hi, is there anybody out there? I'm Joe.

ELECTRONIC BEEPING

-Sending that again.

-That satellite, 400 times the speed of light,

that is blasting into space now... Now, no response. OK.

We need to reconfigure that chipset.

Guys, just keep talking into the mic, keep sending messages.

We'll be back and we can get naming those stars for you.

We'll see you shortly.

Just talk to the mic, it's on auto, isn't it?

-It's on auto, you don't need to touch anything.

-OK, fantastic.

Great. That's the boys left alone with the interstellar comm.

Let's see if they can make an alien connection of their own.

Are you in trouble? I'm Joe and I've got my friend here, Charlie.

This is Jodrell Bank reporting, is there anybody there?

No response from the aliens, but Charlie looks like he's buying this.

So let's bring Rob back in.

Hello, chaps. How have we got on?

-Fine.

-Fine? How many messages did you get back?

-None.

-Nothing.

That's kind of what we expected.

-Right, then, we want to name some stars, don't we?

-Yes.

If we go on to the... Let me just check.

Let's have a look. I'm pretty sure...OK,

Mike, can you go... I think it's the Zabullan Quadrant, please?

-Yeah, straight away.

-We've got a few stars waiting for us.

-Whoa.

-You think that's cool?

-That is wicked.

-That's live, right now, OK?

Now those numbers that you can see there, they're actually stars.

Which of those would you like as yours?

-That one, please.

-XR321. And what would you like to call it?

I'd like to call it...

-Think carefully, now, this will be in history now.

-Smiler.

XR321, in a few hours' time - type that in - will become Smiler.

I think that deserves a round of applause.

You can't see anything now, but what's happened

is a signal will go out to NASA

and in a few hours' time, that will be called...Smiler?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic. Now then, have you had a chance to think, Charlie?

Cos you can pick one of those.

What are you going to call it?

I think I'll pick DE345.

Good choice. Why that one?

I don't know. I just feel it.

-OK, that's fine. And what are you going to call it?

-Fudge, I think.

Ah, brilliant. Charlie really thinks he has just named a star, Fudge.

So it's time to crank the prank. Cue the spaceship.

What's happened?

-Hold on, something's moving.

-What's that? That can't be on there.

-It is.

-You haven't... That's a live contact.

That's something moving.

-Hold on.

-Where's this... where's this coming from?

Must be, must be from...

"Planet Earth, we hear your call."

What did you say when we were out of the room?

-We just said "Hi, are you in trouble?"

-"We are your friends."

And this is...

Yes, Dr Johnson, confirmed, we've had contact.

-This is real.

-This is amazing.

This is incredible.

Co-ordinates, that's what I wanted. Read those out to me.

53.23.

53.23? That's here, that's here.

They've obviously linked into...

"Predicted landing."

It is, it's obviously homing in on the Stargazer.

Predicted landing. That can't, that can't... This is...

PHONE RINGS

OK, right, yes. It's entering the Earth's atmosphere,

we need to do a drill position.

Guys, just come away. I'm sure we'll be fine.

Quick, quick. They've found us. Come under the desk.

Come on, come on.

Whoa!

And there's the explosion,

so that Charlie thinks the spaceship really has crash-landed nearby.

Nice work, Ninjas.

Are you all OK?

-I'm fine.

-A little shaken up.

-This is Robert Johnson.

-We're all OK.

-'Proceed to crash site to investigate'.

OK, we're on it. Guys, decontamination suits.

Come on, I'll explain, I'll explain.

This is great. The guys are rushing off to put on

their decontamination suits, ready to explore the crash.

Charlie looks like he's buying the alien crash,

but how will he react when he has a close encounter of the prank kind?

It's... Hang on, guys, hang on.

It's Dr Johnson. We've got... We're OK.

This is incredible.

HORRIFIC GROANS

What's happened, it's obviously come in...

Just stay with me. This is incredible.

GARBLED SCREECHES

We're getting communication. Just lift your hands up, guys, trust me.

No, no weapons.

HISSING

Ah, look at his face. He totally thinks this spaceship's for real.

-Talk to it.

-Hello?

-Unarmed.

-Hi, we're unarmed.

-Unarmed, no weapons.

-Talk, all of us.

-No weapons.

-Louder.

-No weapons!

-No weapons!

-We come in peace.

-Keep waving, keep waving.

Stay here, guys, don't back off cos it shows weakness. We're OK.

We need to introduce ourselves.

Come forward. I am Dr Robert Johnson.

I am Joe Alti. I come in peace.

I am Charlie Willington.

What do think he's saying?

I think you'll find that translates as, "I'm going to get you."

We're unarmed!

CRASH!

ALIEN GROWLS

All right, Charlie?

-Yeah.

-You've just been pranked by the Prank Patrol.

Round of applause for Charlie, everybody.

-Charlie, how are you feeling?

-Fine.

-Yeah?

You're handling it well, considering an alien

just ran at you. Can I ask you one thing?

For the past few days, Joe said that you're quite gullible, he said you'd

probably believe that that spaceship had crash-landed.

-Did you believe it?

-Yeah.

-Joe, one of those. Top prankster.

He's a good sport, round of applause for Charlie everybody.

The prank, for me, went smashing.

The alien, effects, Charlie's face, everything, just how I imagined.

Did he fall for it? He believed the alien communication,

he went into the brace position,

he believed the explosions were real, the spaceship was real

and he ran like a runner when I came out as an alien.

I think he fell for it.

I was a bit scared when the alien did scrape against the door.

When I saw the flames and the sparks, I did think they were real.

They were so excited, the pair of them. Even Joe,

who was in on it, he was surprised as well.

You should have seen his face, it was ace!

And he thought I was from space.

We're still mates, aren't we, Charlie?

-Yeah. But I am going to get you back.

-Yeah, right.

Another out of this world prank.

Keep an eye out, we'll see you next time on...

-Prank Patrol!

-Prank Patrol!

E-mail [email protected]