M.A.S.K. S1E24

Counter-Clockwise Caper

Three workers stand before a black spider-legged machine parked on a flatbed truck in a hangar.

Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker take a rare vacation in Las Vegas, with Scott and T-Bob in tow. Then every ride and slot machine in the Carnival Carnival Casino starts running backwards, and T-Bob begins speaking and rolling in reverse. Matt and Gloria trace the effect to a machine V.E.N.O.M. calls the Reverser, which Miles Mayhem uses to empty casinos of their money. Mayhem then plans to put it in the Hoover Dam, where the turbines would be forced to pump water backwards and tear the structure apart. M.A.S.K. breaks off its holiday, destroys the machine and recovers the cash.

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It says so in the first minute: everybody has to take a break sometime, away from villains, violence and mysteries. Counter-Clockwise Caper then spends the rest of its running time proving that nobody in M.A.S.K. can take one. The team has a holiday in Las Vegas, and by the first act break the holiday has become a mystery.

What the episode is really about is people who are bad at doing nothing. Scott and T-Bob go to the casino's children's floor, where T-Bob is startled by a talking slot machine and unimpressed by a roller coaster he compares to a worm on wheels; within minutes of the first strange ride, Matt is sighing that there goes the vacation and, in the next breath, saying all right, a mystery; and when the cast finally has something to do, Dusty announces that he was feeling like a bump on a log. The villain's machine is the first thing in the story that gives them an excuse, and it makes Las Vegas take its own day off in reverse.

That gives the writing a sound structure. The first test of the Reverser is played for slapstick: the wiki's Reverser page records that every ride at the casino runs backwards, the slot machines spew out their coins, and T-Bob speaks, moves and eventually drives in reverse. Matt and Gloria rule out a publicity stunt, the computer finds no known natural phenomenon that could produce a reversal, and the episode asks who and how before it asks why. The second use, at full power, is played for a heist, with people sprawled across an emptied casino floor and a crew sucking up the coins; by then the audience has already watched the machine be funny, which makes it more alarming when it is not.

The animation is at its best in the casino. A game wheel rolling across a floor of coins, tilting slot machines, a roller coaster climbing red track against a pink sky and a heap of coins spilling from a chute are drawn with a gaudy energy that makes the town look like the place the story needs. Later the Hoover Dam and a canyon road give the climax a change of scale, and a cactus covered in banknotes is one of the episode's best late images.

The voice work leans on dry teasing. Gloria tells Matt he does not have to look far to find a good-looking woman, T-Bob complains that kids and robots are not allowed to gamble, and Vanessa, vacuuming up a fortune, observes that it is the first time she has ever enjoyed cleaning up. Dusty gets the last joke of the plot, noticing that money does grow on trees after all.

The standout is the revolving restaurant. Matt is in the rooftop dining room when the Reverser runs at full power, the centre of the room does not move while everything around it does, and a man in a purple suit hugs a pole as tables and tablecloths fly. Matt ends up clinging to a yellow curtain, and the wiki's Reverser page adds that he is thrown out of a window before Gloria, using her Aura mask, slows his fall. It is the sequence where the reversal stops being a gag and becomes a threat to the lead.

The weak link is the dam. Venom's plan is explained in one exchange: when the machine runs, the turbines will try to pump water backwards, and the vibration will tear the whole dam apart. The peril is spoken by the villains, and the action then turns back to the money wagon and the chase, so the dam never feels like a stake the team can lose. A short scene on the dam itself would have made the machine's last use as frightening as its first.

The episode ends by the pool at home, with Scott in swim trunks beside a bottle of suntan lotion and a safety tip about ultraviolet rays. In the first season's run of globe-trotting missions, Counter-Clockwise Caper is the one that lets M.A.S.K. look tired.

The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the closing safety tip as Matt and Gloria praising Scott for putting on extra sunscreen after swimming in the pool at the Trakker mansion.
The wiki's page for the Reverser says the machine makes machinery run backwards at increasing speed, that its first test was at the Carnival Carnival Casino, and that Vanessa Warfield was the only V.E.N.O.M. agent who witnessed that test.
According to the wiki, the locations are Las Vegas, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.
The wiki's continuity notes record that Matt sends Gloria out in Thunderhawk while he watches the city from the revolving restaurant, and that later he has Bruce Sato switch vehicles with her, so Bruce becomes Thunderhawk's co-pilot and Gloria drives Gator with Bruce at the Electric Ouch cannon.
The wiki points out an inconsistency: after Dusty's joke about money growing on trees, he and Matt are shown laughing loudly, but only Matt is heard.
The wiki also notes that when Matt leaves Scott and T-Bob at Lake Mead he closes Thunderhawk's door with the window shut, yet his voice is not muffled when he speaks again.
The M.A.S.K. wiki's voice cast list credits Doug Stone with Matt Trakker, Dusty Hayes and a drunk, Mark Halloran with Sly Rax, Cliff Dagger, a gambler and an old man, and Graeme McKenna with T-Bob and a construction worker.
The wiki gives the episode's recording date as October 17, 1985.

Matt Trakker

Gloria Baker

Bruce Sato

Dusty Hayes

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Crowds fill a casino floor between long rows of slot machines under a crystal chandelier.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand among casino patrons in front of glowing slot machines.

Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker stand at a slot machine with a 50,000 jackpot.

A rumpled man in a purple suit scratches his head beside Scott Trakker and T-Bob.

T-Bob glares with narrowed eyes while a hand reaches in from the edge.

A rumpled man in purple walks past Matt Trakker, Gloria Baker, T-Bob and Scott.

Red steel tracks of a roller coaster climb against a pink sky.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob sit in a blue roller coaster car.

Scott Trakker, T-Bob and other riders hurtle down a roller coaster in a blue car.

A blue roller coaster train crests a hill on red tracks.

A blue roller coaster train sweeps around a curve with riders aboard.

Children and adults gather at an indoor amusement area under a striped canopy.

A heap of gold coins spills from a chute.

A freckled girl clings to a carousel pole next to a boy on a blue elephant.

Scott Trakker points up as a swing ride spins overhead.

A large wheel with a spinning pointer whirls beside two onlookers.

A spinning game wheel rolls across a floor of coins in front of tilting slot machines.

Scott Trakker leans against T-Bob, seen from behind.

Matt Trakker leans toward a giant panda figure in a toy display.

A freckled girl clings to a carousel pole next to a boy on a blue elephant.

Matt Trakker, Gloria Baker, Scott and T-Bob stand before a giant globe and panda.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob look up at Gloria Baker beside the giant globe.

Vanessa Warfield and Miles Mayhem stand with a man in olive, studying the machine.

Matt Trakker gestures toward the cockpit of a red car with its canopy raised.

Matt Trakker talks and gestures beside a red car with the canopy open.

Scott Trakker stands with hands on hips in front of a control panel as T-Bob sits beside him.

A tall hotel with palm trees stands under a pale sky.

A hotel tower with a rooftop control deck rises above palm trees.

Gloria Baker speaks with her hands out at a restaurant table.

Matt Trakker props his chin on his hand and raises binoculars at a cafe table.

Matt Trakker looks through binoculars at a cafe table.

T-Bob lies on his back beside a tyre while Scott's legs poke over him.

Scott Trakker, shirtless, peers over the edge of an orange board.

Scott Trakker rides T-Bob through the water.

T-Bob's wheel and a bare foot splash through the water.

Thunderhawk sits outside a casino with its yellow lightning bolt on the side.

Thunderhawk sits at the casino entrance, seen from behind at night.

A purple car and a black truck sit side by side outside a casino.

Sly Rax works a control panel with a red lever.

The Las Vegas skyline glitters at night from above.

A man in a purple suit tumbles backward with a tablecloth.

A man in a purple suit hugs a metal pole beside an overturned table.

Cars crowd a street in a traffic jam, seen from above.

Matt Trakker stands at a window with yellow curtains, holding a drink.

Matt Trakker grips a railing near a table with spilled dishes.

Matt Trakker leans over a bald man in a purple suit who clutches a pole.

Matt Trakker braces with his feet wide and arms out in a restaurant.

A table draped in white cloth sits in a dining room as a crowd looks on.

Matt Trakker clings to a yellow curtain.

Gloria Baker, masked in gold, stands at a hotel fountain with a blue car nearby.

A black helicopter sits beside a black truck and a purple sports car.

A man in a purple suit slumps against a slot machine in a heap of coins.

A hose nozzle blows coins and a banknote over a pile of gold.

A figure in a blue uniform stands by a pile of coins where people lie asleep.

People lie sprawled across the casino floor below a clown figure.

Sleeping casino guests lie across the floor beside the slot machines.

Miles Mayhem strides forward in his helmet with two henchmen behind him.

A red-masked agent points past a gold-masked agent in a green vest outside a restaurant.

A man in a pink striped suit and red hat raises a cane over a pink glowing screen.

Matt Trakker, masked, grips the arm of Gloria Baker as they stand before the Dinner House sign.

A purple sports car sits on the lawn before a bright Las Vegas casino strip.

A purple car tips onto two wheels in front of a pink-lit casino.

A control console with a dial, screens and a disc drive sits in a lab.

A green line drawing shows a man's face and shoulders on a dark blue screen.

A wireframe profile shows a standing figure, two head views and a visor mask.

Matt Trakker pulls a red helmet down over his head.

A white motorboat floats on a blue lake below rocky canyon walls.

T-Bob holds a spoon up in one raised hand in front of the mountains.

T-Bob holds a yellow pot in one raised arm with orange liquid.

T-Bob holds a glass pot of orange liquid beside a large yellow cup.

Scott Trakker tumbles backward in a folding chair while T-Bob flings an orange liquid.

Scott Trakker kneels in yellow pajamas beside T-Bob, who is splashed in orange.

Gloria Baker, Matt Trakker and two M.A.S.K. agents talk beside Thunderhawk with its doors raised.

Matt Trakker looks ahead from under a raised car door.

An agent leaps toward Thunderhawk as Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker look on.

A small building sits on a ledge above a blue reservoir at the Hoover Dam.

Guards line up in front of a large hangar door beside a black helicopter and a purple car.

A man in an olive jacket stands by a green jeep as a ring of light swirls around him.

A man in an olive jacket kneels on the ground at the feet of a figure in blue.

Miles Mayhem raises a fist beside a V.E.N.O.M. agent in a green suit and red helmet.

T-Bob raises both arms while Scott Trakker sits beside him in a green boat.

Workers run toward a hangar door next to a purple car and a dark machine.

Miles Mayhem gestures outward beside the green-suited V.E.N.O.M. agent.

Miles Mayhem gestures with an open hand in front of the canyon wall.

Three metal pistons rise above a crankshaft in an engine.

T-Bob leans forward looking sideways over the edge of a craft.

A masked driver in orange sits belted into a red car with its canopy raised.

A masked agent in a red visor and red gloves grips the steering wheel and looks ahead.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob float upward in a swirl of gold rings above the lake.

Scott Trakker gives a thumbs up in a cockpit with T-Bob and a masked driver in orange.

Scott Trakker runs toward a red jeep as M.A.S.K. agents and T-Bob gather by the cliff.

Gloria Baker, Matt Trakker and other M.A.S.K. agents stand together with Scott and T-Bob.

Gloria Baker and a brown-haired M.A.S.K. agent look ahead side by side.

A big red tractor truck with a tall grille crowds the frame beside another vehicle.

A masked driver in a blue and white helmet grips a steering wheel inside a truck cab.

A helicopter flies above a black truck and a purple car racing through a canyon.

Miles Mayhem sits at the controls of a red vehicle under a net of glowing lines.

A purple car with raised twin cannons stands on the desert ground.

Workers swing tools at a crack in a large hangar door.

A gold-masked agent drives a red open vehicle with a crane arm on its side.

Gloria Baker, masked in gold, steadies herself against a red vehicle on the canyon road.

Golden rings swirl around a red truck as a masked agent stands on its bed.

A yellow-outlined robot arm works in a machine room full of crackling sparks.

A gold-masked agent in a green vest stands behind a red vehicle with a crane arm.

A red tractor truck charges toward the camera in a cloud of dust.

The front of a big red and white tractor truck fills the frame.

Banknotes whirl around a masked agent in a red vest behind a truck window.

Miles Mayhem grips the controls with both gloved fists as he stares ahead.

A brown-haired M.A.S.K. agent holds a bundle of cash as banknotes flutter around a cactus.

Matt Trakker laughs with an agent clutching cash beside a cactus covered in banknotes.

The red Rhino tractor truck sits in front of the canyon wall.

Scott Trakker sits in swim trunks beside T-Bob next to a bottle of suntan lotion.

Scott Trakker leans an arm on his knee beside T-Bob, looking ahead.

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