M.A.S.K. S2E07

For One Shining Moment

Miles Mayhem speaks, his gray mustache and round glasses showing.

In Chicago, V.E.N.O.M. sponsors a charity race and Miles Mayhem pitches it as a fresh start. Matt Trakker is willing to hope; Nevada Rushmore is not. During the race a false radio call pulls Clutch Hawks away while rubble splits the team up, and V.E.N.O.M. goes after Matt. Miles admits to Maximus that the reform was a lie, and the pair escape with the donation money. Chicago is sealed off, a lab finds lead in water from the Deep Hole sewer system, and V.E.N.O.M. talks of leaving through a sewer tunnel. Matt ends by challenging V.E.N.O.M. to a race wherever it likes.

Wherever V.E.N.O.M. wants to race, from Morocco to the jungles of Africa, we'll be there, to do battle and race to the finish.

Whether a villain can change is a question adventure cartoons rarely ask out loud, and this one asks it in its first minutes, with Nevada Rushmore doubting and Matt Trakker hoping. V.E.N.O.M. has spent heavily on a public relations campaign, a charity race in Chicago has brought in millions in donations, and Matt reminds Nevada that Miles Mayhem once worked on the side of good, back when M.A.S.K. was getting started. Nevada does not buy it. The rest of the episode is her being proved right.

What the episode is about is that Matt's decency is the target. The race is dressing; the weapon is the scene in front of the grandstand, where the announcer asks for silence and Matt and Miles talk without weapons about how things used to be. Matt says he will stay on guard, and the plan never needs him or anyone on the team to be careless, only helpful.

Helpful is how Clutch Hawks gets taken out of the race. A radio call that sounds like Brad Turner says Razorback has broken down on Webster Avenue, Clutch goes, finds nothing, and runs into a police officer who has a great deal to say about U-turns in the city of Chicago. Clutch says out loud that he has been had, and soon afterwards a M.A.S.K. voice says the team has been cut off from Matt. The frames for that stretch are tidy: blue beams cut across a heap of fallen stone, and an orange car waits in front of rubble.

The animation splits in a way that suits the material. Dialogue scenes hold their model and stay on faces, with Miles given a raised finger and a stern look straight at the camera, while the action beats drop into loose, scratchy drawing; a cannon barrel and a rush of rubble both turn up as rough sketches. The voices have to carry the stands scene almost alone, since the pictures there are crowd shots and close-ups.

The standout is the quarrel after the trap springs. One brother calls the deception necessary; the other, hurt, asks whether it was necessary to fool him too and says he was just used. The reply, as far as the transcript carries it, is that there was never any intention of going straight and that it was a stupid idea anyway. Because Miles's own brother was fooled, the scheme feels less like a gag and more like something Miles does to anyone who trusts him. Someone then offers to help with the money, and the episode lets it pass without comment.

The real weakness is the middle. With the donation money gone and the city sealed off, a M.A.S.K. voice says that all the team needs is one little break, and the next scene is a lab where scientists worry about a water sample with too much lead in it, taken from the Deep Hole sewer system. A V.E.N.O.M. voice then talks of leaving by a sewer tunnel and escaping once they reach the outlet. The surviving transcript shows the route to the sewer coming through a lab scene, not through anything the team is heard working out, and it has almost no speech from roughly 17:40 to 19:40, so this guide cannot say how the chase ends and will not guess.

The ending is a challenge. Matt points out that every V.E.N.O.M. vehicle was souped up for the race, that M.A.S.K. has Goliath, Razorback, Wildcat and Meteor, and that he would match them against any racing team in the world; wherever V.E.N.O.M. wants to race, M.A.S.K. will be there. A short safety tip about a puppy in a closed car follows.

Among the racing episodes this is one of the better set-ups for the season's theme, a story about people that happens to have cars in it. It sags when the city plot takes over, but the idea under it holds: the most dangerous thing V.E.N.O.M. aimed at Matt Trakker was his willingness to hope.

The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Bruno Sheppard with the imitation of Brad Turner's voice that fools Buddie Hawks, and says he also poses as Officer Sean O'Malley of the Chicago Police Department.
According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, this story sets up the racing theme of the second season and should chronologically have been broadcast first rather than seventh in that season.
The M.A.S.K. wiki notes that Miles and Maximus Mayhem are seen driving the V.E.N.O.M. tanker Outlaw together here, with Miles saying he uses its computer to contact agents around the world, and lists this as Outlaw's final appearance.
The M.A.S.K. wiki observes that the Outlaw toy carries a V.E.N.O.M. logo that never appears on the vehicle in the cartoon.
The M.A.S.K. wiki says Goliath I wears the number 8 in the cartoon while the toy carries the number 9.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a drawing error at about 16:17, where the V.E.N.O.M. car Stinger is accidentally drawn sitting beside the M.A.S.K. agents just as Nevada says no V.E.N.O.M. vehicle has been seen anywhere.
The M.A.S.K. wiki records that during the two scientists' conversation about the water sample the voices skip back and forth, each character saying the other's lines.
The M.A.S.K. wiki describes the closing safety tip as Scott Trakker looking after a puppy named Elliot, with Matt explaining why a car with the windows closed is dangerous for it; the wiki's Safety Tips page says every episode of the series had a tip segment.
The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Brendan McKane with the voices of Miles Mayhem, Nevada Rushmore and Officer O'Malley, and Doug Stone with Matt Trakker, Maximus Mayhem, Bruno Sheppard and Dusty Hayes.

Matt Trakker

Nevada Rushmore

Buddie Hawks

Brad Turner

Ace Riker

Dusty Hayes

Miles Mayhem

Maximus Mayhem

Bruno Sheppard

Floyd Malloy

Lester Sludge

Scott Trakker

A black tanker truck with orange stripes sits on a pale road.

Two masked V.E.N.O.M. figures work on the opened flatbed of the black truck.

A gold-helmeted V.E.N.O.M. officer with a pink gem stares ahead.

Two big round white wheels sit under a black chassis in a low view.

A masked V.E.N.O.M. officer stands beside a console while a dark boot rests on it.

The pink-gem officer narrows his eyes, brow furrowed.

City office towers show faintly through a double exposure.

A black vehicle sits small in front of tall glass and white office towers.

The black truck drives down a city street toward the viewer.

The back of a white vehicle shows two red lights above black brushes.

An empty white tunnel recedes toward a bright point.

A black truck with a white triangle pattern carries a race car as a figure steps out.

A packed crowd of spectators cheers in the grandstand.

Miles Mayhem raises a blue-gloved finger to make a point.

A black race car and two small figures stand on the pale arena floor.

Two figures stand in a gap between walls in front of the packed grandstand.

Matt Trakker smiles with a yellow racing collar under a blue sky.

Miles Mayhem looks sternly at the viewer.

Spectators cheer and one man shakes a fist.

Spectators in the grandstand smile and look to one side.

A racer in a yellow suit lifts a red helmet with both gloved hands.

Miles Mayhem faces a gold-helmeted V.E.N.O.M. officer in front of the stands.

Miles Mayhem and a gold-helmeted officer sit behind a dark car's windshield with a red helmet.

A gold-helmeted officer reaches out with a red glove from the dark car.

A black six-wheeled race car turns on the track before the grandstand.

Two race cars tumble in a dissolve with a ghost image of a blue car behind them.

Nevada Rushmore and a red-capped Buddie Hawks glare out of a red vehicle.

Buddie Hawks speaks into a radio microphone in a red truck cab.

Nevada Rushmore looks ahead with his hands clasped at his chest.

The dashboard and steering wheel of a vehicle show a microphone cord.

An empty city street runs between office buildings.

A red and yellow tow truck marked 57 sits on a city street with a driver inside.

A police officer stands in front of a tow truck on a city street.

A police officer in a cap looks out through a window frame.

The police officer raises a fist, speaking.

A red truck rolls forward on a city street as a police officer stands at the left.

An orange car approaches down a wide city street.

An orange vehicle with a green turret rolls toward the viewer.

A sketchy drawing shows a cannon barrel on an orange body.

Chunks of concrete tumble in a collapse.

An orange car faces the viewer in a narrow street.

A rough sketch of rubble streaks fills the frame.

A man in sunglasses and a white collar speaks against a blue sky.

A woman in pink and blue hurries beside a black truck at the stadium wall.

A racer in a white and blue striped helmet grips the wheel.

A red vehicle faces the viewer in a tunnel with a figure in pink standing at the side.

A traffic light shows red over a city street.

The back of a white car drives away beside office buildings.

The racer in the striped helmet is seen in side view.

A pile of rubble blocks a city street.

Blue laser beams cut across a heap of rubble.

The striped-helmet racer climbs into a truck cab beside a rubble heap.

An orange car and a black motorcycle ride down a city street.

Nevada Rushmore and a masked teammate sit belted in a red cab.

Rubble lies in front of an orange car and a gray vehicle with red crates.

Yellow tracer fire streaks toward the orange car from a gray machine with red crates.

A pink-suited gunner chases the orange car on a red buggy through a brown cloud.

Nevada Rushmore and a masked teammate in the red cab look to the right.

A red car drives down a city road in an aerial view.

The striped-helmet racer in red works at the front of an orange car.

A racer in a yellow suit and red face wrap grips the wheel.

A black racer with an 8 runs on the track as a dark jet passes overhead.

A black racer approaches in the distance behind a white panel and a tire.

A gold-helmeted officer glares through lines of white glass cracks.

The grandstand and a tiny race car are seen from above.

A yellow race car is framed in a white targeting circle.

The pink-gem officer sneers, brow furrowed.

A yellow and black racer with twin round rear fittings speeds across the track.

A red-star helmet and a masked officer overlap in a dissolve.

A pink-suited gunner fires from a red buggy beside a fence.

The black racer with an 8 leaps toward the viewer.

An orange-helmeted figure fills the frame.

A police officer opens a vault door in front of stacks of money bags.

A gold-helmeted V.E.N.O.M. officer stands by an open vault with piles of money bags.

A green-gem officer stands before an office building with rubble at the corner.

Two gold-helmeted officers stand at a vault beside a black car.

The pink-gem officer narrows his eyes in an office room.

The green-gem officer stares ahead with a grim look.

A pink-gem officer looks from behind another masked officer's shoulder.

Two gold-helmeted officers face each other, one with a pink gem and one with a green gem.

A racer in a yellow suit and red face wrap looks toward the sky.

A striped helmet and a black racer with an 8 overlap in a dissolve.

A pink-suited gunner fires a long-barreled gun from the buggy with a 7.

A chain-link fence stands before distant mountains and pale pavement.

A white jet with red thrusters hovers by the fence as the black racer passes.

The white jet descends to the pavement near the fence and the black racer.

Two drivers huddle in the black race car behind a chain-link fence.

A blond man in yellow and a masked figure sit in the black racer.

A police officer in dark sunglasses raises a fist.

A man in an orange vest stands before the black racer in a hangar.

Buddie Hawks walks in front of the number 8 racer in a hangar.

Matt Trakker raises a finger with closed eyes.

A bald bearded scientist and a brown-haired scientist in lab coats talk in a lab.

The brown-haired scientist in a lab coat speaks.

The bald bearded scientist holds a gray device to his face while a colleague stands behind.

Two gold-helmeted officers sit in a dark vehicle at night.

A gold-helmeted officer lifts a blue glove to his face in front of a white blade.

The pink-gem officer smirks, eyes narrowed.

Two gold-helmeted officers sit in the cab above a white arrow on a teal panel.

The pink-gem officer looks out with a sly expression.

The pink-gem officer scowls, a red glove beside him.

A tunnel entrance sits in a hillside beside a canal with two vehicles.

A white gantry arm carries a red and black sign in a field.

The pink-gem officer's face overlays the tunnel gate.

The pink-gem officer turns his head in profile.

Nevada Rushmore looks ahead in a feathered pink-visored mask.

A dark panel and a black-haired mask edge fill the frame beside a white card.

The pink-gem officer glances to the side with narrowed eyes.

An office tower glows against a sunset with a few vehicles parked in front.

A tow truck, a car and a dark truck are parked at the base of the tower.

Matt Trakker smiles in front of a sunset sky.

A white car marked 5, a red tow truck and three people stand in a plaza at dusk.

Buddie Hawks grins with a gloved hand raised behind him.

Buddie Hawks and Nevada Rushmore stand side by side before sunset buildings.

A city street runs between office buildings under a sunset sky.

Scott Trakker faces Matt Trakker beside a dark vehicle in daylight.

Matt Trakker gestures with an open hand as Scott Trakker looks on.

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