As this episode opens, Gromit's all geared up for his and Wallace's beach trip to Blackpool. Sneaking a peak outside reveals that the weather has turned rather foul, though, but he doesn't have much chance to be disappointed about it, as Wallace calls from the basement with yet another major crisis. Rushing downstairs, Gromit enters the basement, and it is immediately clear that some combination of Wallace and the weather has done a number on the plumbing, and the whole place is flooded.
Walk over the floating tables and planks and grab Wallace's spanner (wrench), taking note of the circuit breaker on the wall. Bring the spanner back and give it to Wallace, who will attempt to fix the leaky pipe. Once he does this, though, naturally a chain reaction unfolds wherein a certain amount of compressed rocket fuel is propelled toward electrical outlets, electrifying the water and blocking off the basement's exit. To add to this, several of the platforms have now submerged and are unusable. Jump on Gromit's adorable floatation device and paddle toward the circuit breaker, which will cut the power. Unfortunately, a pipe is dumping water out directly next to it, making the current too strong for Gromit to reach the breaker.
Paddle to the corner of the room with the red canister of rocket fuel by maneuvering around the barrels and other flotsam. You should see the canister in the corner along the back wall; take it. Next, paddle over to the sparking outlet along the back wall and use the rocket canister on it. Hanging on tightly, Gromit will be propelled toward the current fast enough to be able to reach the switch and kill the power. After Wallace manages to fix the issue, he tells his disappointed dog that the holiday plans are off due to the bad weather. In the same breath, though, he manages to come up for an indoor beach resort idea that's sure to work…
Standing outside, Wallace shows Gromit the plans he's come up with for the "Seashore-by-the-Cellar" scheme. He needs three things to get it of f the ground: sun, sand, and a nice big umbrella. It looks like Miss Flitt has some new flowers growing in her yard. Feel free to grab one of the orange ones that are protruding above the fence. Wallace will likely find some of the things he needs in town, so exit the yard and head there by going through the gate.
As soon as Wallace opens it to walk out, an as-of-yet unknown fellow will walk by holding a sizeable umbrella, jostling Wallace to the side. Felicity seems to have a new suitor. This "Duncan McBiscuit" is attempting to convince Miss Flitt to head out to the beach with him, but she's rightly suspicious of the gloomy weather. He has set the umbrella down within reach of Wallace's side of the fence. When Wallace approaches, though, he'll be introduced to Mr. McBiscuit and enter into a dialogue with Felicity, who will also show off her two tiny dogs, Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee. She says Duncan was just leaving, as she doesn't intend to go to the beach when there's bound to be thunder and lightning. However, McBiscuit doesn't hear anything, and won't leave until there's proof of an incoming storm. If you select the beach umbrella, Felicity will offer to lend it to you, but Duncan is adamant that unless he hears some thunder, he won't budge, and Wallace won't be able to take the brolly.
Since Felicity and Duncan's argument seems to be going in circles, leave them be for now and head to town. Walk out the gate once more and Wallace will soon arrive in the town centre. Once he gets there, though, there's another argument unfolding between PC Dibbins and Major Crum. The Major is convinced that there's an imminent flood and wants to dump sandbags, and Dibbins is not very keen on having the town centre disturbed since there's no signs a flood is going to overtake the town.
We'll have Wallace sort them out in a bit. It looks like Paneer has some interesting stuff going on over at his shop, so head over there first. There's a bright spotlight that would likely work well as ersatz sun for the indoor beach, and there are several crates of cheese that Wallace should undoubtedly investigate. Select the cheese, and Wallace will get a closer look, causing his stomach to growl loudly. Next, look at the "Cheese of the Week Club" sign next to the shop. Paneer will explain that this is the new shipment of Stilton cheese, and since Wallace is a member of the club already, his shipment has already arrived at West Wallaby Street.
Talk to Paneer, who will lament the lack of customers coming to his Sizzling Summer Sale. His giant searchlight doesn't seem to be doing much good in front of his shop. Select the light, and Wallace will ask about it. Paneer says that Wallace can borrow the light if the weather doesn't improve, so we'll need to find some evidence of impending bad weather. Walk over to the Newsagents and look at the magazines for sale. While these all look like interesting reads, pick the "Weekly Weather Forecast" magazine, which indicates more storms coming. Take the magazine and hand it to Paneer, and he'll let you have the giant light (once you select it again). That's one item for your resort down, two to go!
Let's have Wallace deal with Dibbins and Crum next. Walk over to Crum's truck and talk to Crum. Wallace will offer to let Crum unload the sandbags at his house, which Dibbins will approve of. However, as soon as Dibbins allows Crum to dump the sand there, Crum will be unwilling to accept the authority of the constable and will refuse to dump the sand. Dibbins will then ask Wallace to decide who's in charge of the situation. The trick here is to understand that they both are willing to give you the sand, but as soon as one says it is okay to take the sand, the other will be unwilling. So, it doesn't matter who you side with in the argument, as the result will be the same: your access to the sand will be stymied by the one you don't side with. Perhaps these two require a bit of inspiration. Once the conversation ends and you're back in control of Wallace, examine the wall painting for Steak & Kidney Pie in the background instead of siding with Crum or Dibbins. This splendid imagery of two great flavours working well together will cause them to set aside their differences and allow you to have the sand. However, due to Crum's current obsession about spies from abroad, he won't allow you to take the sand until you provide him with a requisition form. The sand will have to wait for now; we'll have to dig up something to give Crum. Return to West Wallaby Street.
Fantastic! Wallace's crates of Stilton are sitting outside your door, and there's an order form pinned to the front of his house. Grab the form, and examine the Stilton crates. Wallace's stomach will growl loudly, making Felicity think she heard some thunder. However, until you have their full attention, they won't be sure that there's a storm coming, and you won't be able to get the beach umbrella. Talk to Felicity, and she and Duncan will get into another dispute about thunder, and they'll both pause to listen for a sound. Select the Stilton cheese to get Wallace to growl thunderously. This will convince Felicity to head inside and shut Duncan out; He'll leave and abandon the giant beach brolly, which Wallace can now borrow indefinitely. Grab it!
Now it's just a matter of getting Crum to bring the sand over. Return to the town and use the cheese order form on Crum, who will gladly drive off to deliver the sand. Head back to your house and you'll see Crum dropping the sand bags off in your driveway. Once he drives off, select the gnome holding the stop sign to flip the driveway and dump the sand down into the cellar. Now Wallace has all the material he needs to build the indoor resort, so he and Gromit get to work constructing it.
West Wallaby Street Waterworld manages to come together quite quickly, but it seems that the guests are unhappy with the place almost as soon as they arrive. In this chapter, Wallace needs to tend to their specific grievances to ensure that they don't demand a refund!
Fortunately, Duncan seems to be enjoying himself. Wallace will mark his name with a smiley face in the guest registry. Find out what the other guests are up to by talking to them. Felicity, Paneer, and Major Crum are all in the cellar beach area, so talk to each of them. Felicity's happy, so that's one less guest to worry about. Paneer, however, is not satisfied. He keeps trying to build up a sandcastle, but Duncan comes by and smashes it as soon as it's built. We'll have to help keep Duncan away from the castle to make Paneer happy with his holiday. Major Crum is happy with the accommodations, but will insist on telling you a story about the Siege of Aqaba, where (apparently) one British trooper held off the enemy army (here played by a tin toy soldier with a sharp bayonet). However, he's missing a few key props: boulders, the sound of vultures, and tea. Fortunately, this isn't a dealbreaker for Crum, so we'll help him out in a bit, and tend to the more upset customers in the meantime.
Head upstairs to the main floor and open the kitchen door (the door at the back of the hallway, next to the cellar door). Gromit's in there working hard on dinner, and won't let you in there, but he'll hand you a cup of tea. Next, head into the living room, where Constable Dibbins is attempting to silence Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee. Talk to him, and he'll unsurprisingly express his dissatisfaction about the situation with these rambunctious doggies. He hands Wallace a formal caution to give to Felicity. If you try to have Wallace pick up the bone chew toy, the dogs will growl menacingly at him. Before leaving, have a look at some of the other items in the living room. There's a souvenir photograph station with changeable backgrounds, a candy floss (cotton candy) maker, and a few rolls of knitting yarn. Pick up the yarn and head back to the hallway.
Next, head upstairs to see witness Duncan taking a ride down the waterslide. Pick up Gromit's fashionable sunglasses next to the lamp on the nightstand. Go back downstairs and enter the dining room. It looks like Mrs. Gabberley is very upset about Duncan's verbal abuse toward her. Talk to her and she'll say she's probably going to just get her refund and go home due to McBiscuit's name-calling. You'll have to respond to what she says using the items around the table to generate the appropriate answer. Listen carefully to what she says and choose the right item. If you respond correctly three times in a row, she'll feel better about herself and even give McBiscuit a bit of his own medicine.
Here's a guide to the dialogue lines and how to respond:
| Winnie's statement | Object to consider | Wallace's Answer |
|---|---|---|
| "What do I know! I'm going soft in the head, aren't I?" | Knife | "Sharp as a knife." |
| "I should count me blessings. At least me new hat fits. That's something, isn't it?" | Sign | "It's a sign." |
| "It's not just me, is it? What do you think of Duncan McBiscuit?" | Cheese | "That's a stinky cheese!" |
| "It's a sorry old world, isn't it? Thanks to the buillies." | Crumbs | "A sad thing." |
| "I'd go home to Mr. Gabberley but there's no point. Won't get no sympathy from 'im indoors, will ah?" | Romance Novel | "A bit of romance." |
| "Yer in a right mess you are Winnie Gabberley and no mistake! What to do, what to do?" | Tea | "There's nothing like a cup of tea." |
| "'Appen I may be knockin' on. Too old for a beach holiday, that's for sure." | Daisy | "Fresh as a daisy!" |
| "Am I making sense? D'you catch ma drift?" | Glass | "Clear as glass!" |
After Winnie's feeling better, head back to the cellar. Show Felicity the formal caution note from Dibbins. She doubts that her doggies would ever misbehave, but reluctantly agrees to go upstairs and sort it out. Unsurprisingly, Felicity's presence in the room causes Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee to improve their behavior immediately. Miss Flitt won't be convinced unless she actually sees the dogs misbehaving, but unless they don't recognize her, they'll always become more amiable when she enters the room.
Have Wallace return to the cellar once again. This time, examine the magazine that Miss Flitt has set aside on her trunk. It's a fashion magazine featuring a new incognito look on its cover that Felicity is dying to emulate. Perhaps if she were dressed up like this, the dogs would have a harder time identifying her. Judging from the cover, the key components of this look are a pair of sunglasses and a blue/white scarf to wear on one's head. Wallace already has Gromit's glasses from upstairs, so he just needs to find some suitable headwear to complete the disguise.
Go back upstairs to the living room and use the dial-a-destination control next to the souvenir photograph station to change the scenery. There's a tropical island Tiki theme, a Blackpool beach backdrop featuring a beach ball and seagull, and a Greek island theme complete with a protruding flag of Greece. Dial the destination until you see the Greek scenery, and then grab the flag. Once you have the flag and sunglasses, go back to the cellar and give them both to Felicity. She'll don the new garments, and once she does this, show her the caution note again. Wearing the disguise, she'll return to the living room where her sweet doggies are once again harassing PC Dibbins, but the dogs don't take much notice of her this time and keep barking at him. Once she sees this behavior, she'll remove them from the room to get ready for their dress-up game, leaving Dibbins reasonably satisfied with his holiday.
The only guest left to make happy now is Mr. Paneer, so return downstairs and see if Wallace can assist with his bully problem. Since Duncan will stomp on the castle as soon as it's finished, perhaps we can employ some device to counteract his stomping. Crum's tin soldier with the sharp bayonet would do the trick as a stomping countermeasure, but he needs it to tell his story about the siege. If Wallace helps Crum out with his missing story props, perhaps he can grab the soldier once the old soldier's done telling his tale. Hand the Major the balls of yarn and the cup of tea. Next, examine the panel next to the staircase (behind a beach chair and some decorations). It controls the ambient sound effects playing in the cellar. What was that Crum said about circling vultures? Select "Seaside Songbirds" on the panel. Return to Crum and have him re-enact the Siege of Aqaba. With all the props and sound effects in place, he'll finish his story and fall soundly asleep. Grab the tin soldier and head over to where Paneer is building his castle.
Examine the four mounds of sand that Paneer is working on. In the close-up shot, take a look at each tower. One will represent the Royal Court, another is the Enchanted Tower, one is the Horrible Dungeon, and finally, one will depict the Tower of Groceries, where the heroic young shopkeeper sells top-quality produce. The order of these is randomized, and will change each time Duncan comes to smash the sandcastle. What's important to note is that Paneer will mark the Tower of Groceries with a "P", and that will be the one that Duncan smashes every time. Whichever one Paneer describes as being the Tower of Groceries is the tower that Wallace needs place the toy soldier. Once the solder is standing atop the appropriate tower, exit the close-up view. Paneer will make his mark, and Duncan will return to squash it, this time receiving a nasty bayoneting from the brave soldier.
Paneer can now work in peace, and all customers will now be satisfied! It's time for a nice supper.
Everyone seems to be having a lovely time now, and all are seated down to a good meal prepared by Gromit. However, while Duncan's in the middle of interrupting Wallace's toast, the power goes out and when the lights come back on, McBiscuit is missing! Everyone starts panicking, and Gromit notices a pair of puppy-sized paw prints on the rug in the dining room. He follows the tracks down into the cellar, where he sees Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee acting suspiciously near a yellow beach bucket. Clutching their favorite toy, they growl at Gromit before returning to the main floor. Duncan's voice calls out for help beneath the bucket. Investigate the bucket, and you'll find Mr. McBiscuit buried to his neck in sand, dazed and semi-conscious due to a nasty knock on the head. Help Duncan out of the trap by using the toy shovel on him.
Once McBiscuit is safely out of the sand, Constable Dibbins comes down and claims credit for discovering the victim. Returning to the dining room, he'll announce that everyone in the house is a suspect and that no one can leave until the "thumper" is caught. Crum insists that it was done by spies from abroad, saboteurs from the South Seas. Wallace sees it as a perfect opportunity to try out his latest prototype: the Deduct-o-Matic Mystery Solver. Unfortunately, it doesn't prove to be useful at all, and Wallace will ask Gromit to point out whom to accuse. Since Gromit saw the two terrors lurking about when Duncan was found under the bucket in the cellar, select Miss Flitt's dogs, who are seated looking much too innocent at the table. After everyone has a good laugh about it, Dibbins will consider that it might be a possibility.
However, he wants to do things properly, by establishing a motive, a weapon, and a witness. After applying the labels to his invention, select the "witness" button. Major Crum seemed very convinced about his spy conspiracy, but perhaps there's a shred of truth in his delusion. Have Gromit pick him as the witness. After the Major rambles for a bit, Dibbins will decide that he's not credible. Mercifully, the device will come unplugged from the wall socket, so that people can go about their normal business until Wallace can figure out what went wrong with his surefire invention. Gromit will need to dig up some more evidence before Dibbins can be convinced of the credibility of the witness, weapon, and motive.
Talk to Dibbins to get a look at his notes on the case. He can interview Mrs. Gabberley, Paneer, or Major Crum to find out what they know, so go ahead and select Mrs. Gabberley from the list. He will leave the room; follow him down to the cellar, where Winnie is trying to find out what Duncan remembers about his attack. The interview is short and doesn't reveal much.
After Dibbins leaves, talk to Duncan. Winnie will do most of the talking, thankfully. Duncan tries his best to remember the events, but his memory gets a bit spotty when it comes to remembering the weapon. He was upstairs about to jump down the waterslide, when the dogs started yapping and he decided to take their bone chew toy away. However, he can't remember a certain noise that might jog his memory. What did the chew toy sound like? After he's done talking go over to the Punch & Judy Show stand and throw the lever. The squeaky lever causes a bit more of Duncan's memory to come back, and he'll reveal that after he took the toy, he tossed the doggies down the waterslide, and then went to go get his photo taken at the souvenir photo booth. His recollection starts to fade.
Perhaps Gromit can find something in the living room to get more of Duncan's account of the attack. Head upstairs and go into the living room. After the exchange between Paneer and Miss Flitt, take a look at the "Memories" photo gallery above the fireplace. There are two pictures of Duncan there, one with him flexing his muscles, and another with a bunch of candy floss. Walk over to the candy floss maker next to Paneer and activate it to grab a cone full of the stuff. Return to the basement and hand the candy floss to Duncan; this will trigger some more memories to come back.
After his picture was taken, Duncan heard the dinner gong sound, and upon entering the room he remembers that Felicity was wearing something that smelled beautiful, but he again draws a blank as to what it was. If you remember back to the beginning of dinner, it was simply the flower in her hair that was so appealing to him. If Gromit finds the same type of flower, this will be the final piece of Duncan's memory mystery. Unfortunately, regular access to the outside is blocked by police tape, so Gromit will have to find another route.
Head to the top floor of the house and enter Wallace's bedroom. Uh-oh! Those two nasty dogs are stationed on Wallace's bed. Confront them, and they'll toss Gromit out the window. Well, at least he's outside now. Grab the orange flower growing over the side of the fence. Now that Gromit's out of the house, so walk through the gate to get there. Mr. Gabberley is lazily managing the newsagents in his wife's stead, and will let you take whatever you want. There's a new issue of the fashion magazine Felicity was reading earlier, so go ahead and pick it up. Return to West Wallaby Street, and re-enter the house by using the gnome to activate the secret driveway/pond rotator.
Gromit will drop down next to Winnie and Duncan, so have him show the flower to Mr. McBiscuit. He remembers everything now! He didn't see who hit him, but he saw what: The supper gong mallet struck him on the head. Gromit just needs to find the weapon, and the mystery will be well on the way to being solved. While still in the cellar, the doggies will come strolling by nonchalantly, one with the mallet in-mouth. Follow them upstairs and Gromit will see one take the mallet into the living room. Keep following to see the dog stuff it into the candy floss machine. The machine gets to work adding candy floss to the mallet, which Paneer will grab once it's done being spun. Gromit won't be able to get the mallet from him by himself, however. Return to the dining room and talk to Dibbins again. Select Paneer from the list of suspects to question, and follow him back into the living room. Dibbins will make Paneer set the mallet down on the shelf while being questioned; pick it up when he does that. Got it!
Use the plug on the wall in the dining room to reactivate the Deduct-o-Matic. Dibbins will gather everyone into the room. Select the "weapon" button, and present the mallet to Wallace. After the cutscene validating this claim, exit out of the view and Gromit will kick out the plug to the invention again. He'll need to find a witness and a motive for the crime before the case is cracked.
In the dining room, talk to Dibbins again; this time, select Major Crum from the list of suspects. Follow Dibbins into the kitchen, where he'll be in the middle of another spy conspiracy story from Major Crum. Crum's holding a little sailor's cap up as evidence, but the Constable doesn't seem to be buying the tale. Nevertheless, he draws up a sketch based on the Major's descriptions of the spies. Once Dibbins leaves, pick up the dropped illustration from the floor and grab the sailor's hat from the kitchen counter. What was that Felicity was saying about playing dress-up?
Return to the living room, where Felicity has pulled out a trunk full of costumes for her dogs. Examine the trunk, and you'll see the items needed to match the descriptions of the overseas spies Major Crum was rambling on about. Select the sailor hat and when Felicity explains that they only like to wear matching outfits (one of the hats is missing), use the hat you found in the kitchen on the other hat. Next, select the trendy glasses (with the dark blue frames). Unfortunately, Felicity won't let you use them until she has confirmation that they're still in style. Exit the close-up view of the trunk and give her the fashion magazine you got from the newsagents. Examine the trunk again, and select the trendy glasses, the sailor caps, and the bandanas with anchor patterns for Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee's costumes. Exit the view once those three are selected, and Felicity will dress the doggies up in the appropriate incriminating gear.
Now that they're busy getting dressed up, head upstairs to examine the bedroom more carefully. There's a loose spring in the bed. When Gromit fixes the spring, it'll pop up in another spot in the bed. The goal here is to set up a little trap for our canine terrors; "fix" the spring until it appears at the foot of the bed, nearest the waterslide. Next, walk over and observe the sign featuring a painted version of Gromit giving a height advisory for the slide. Once you do this, the two little twerps will appear at the door; thankfully, quick thinking on Gromit's part saves the day as he matches up his posture with that of the sign, shielding him from view of the dim-witted dogs. While they're still unaware of his presence, have Gromit hit the big red button marked "FUN" to send them for a ride down the slide. They'll plummet down the chute, but the bone will get snagged in the spring, where Gromit can grab it.
Walk back downstairs and into the dining room. Plug the Deduct-o-Matic back in to restart Dibbins' inquest. Select the "Witness" button, and choose Major Crum once again. This time, the dogs' costumes match the wild description Crum gives for the enemy spies, leaving Dibbins to determine that he is a credible witness. Gromit will select the "Motive" button next, and for that, hand Wallace the bone chew toy you wrested from the dogs' grasp. The constable determines that this is a valid motive for thumping, given that Duncan stole the toy from the dogs. With all the pieces put together, Dibbins calls the case closed.
However, seeing their toy in Wallace's hands, Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee dive for him, sending them all tumbling down the waterslide. Wallace and the two dogs end up in the rapidly draining beach cellar, afloat on the giant upturned beach umbrella, with the chew toy resting at the very top of the brolly's handle. The dogs are jumping to reach the toy, which is making the whole vessel unstable. Gromit follows after them, landing in his favorite green floatation device. In this chapter, the keys you normally use to move forward and backward instead accelerate and decelerate in the whirlpool, respectively.
There are a few objects travelling around in the swirling water. Pick up anything you can reach: The stick of candy floss, the beach ball, the teapot, and the bucket of decorative starfish. Just speed up or slow down as needed to reach the items. Once Gromit has the starfish, he can throw them at other objects on the screen. Start by knocking the canister of rocket fuel into the water by using the bucket of starfish on it. If you try to throw a star at the bone chew toy, the dogs will rock the umbrella too much for the shot to hit. Instead, distract them by throwing a star at the squeaky Punch & Judy lever. This will grab their attention for a moment, long enough for Gromit to toss another star at the more stationary bone toy. The dogs are mortified at the sight of their toy going down the drain, and they dive after it, out of sight. Gromit hops aboard the umbrella, and needs to save them both from going down the drain themselves. Take note of Wallace's sparking headwear, care of the now defunct Deduct-o-Matic. Use the rocket canister on the sparking helmet (if you didn't pick it up before, it's not too late to toss a starfish and grab the fuel) to launch Wallace and Gromit to safety and end the episode.
Congratulations! Though the beach resort seems to be in a bit of disrepair, at least Gromit has time for a bit of beachside rest and relaxation. See you next month!
