M.A.S.K. S1E04

Highway to Terror

A tall building leans over as brown dust rises between damaged buildings.

V.E.N.O.M., posing as magicians, makes a military truck full of plutonium disappear from a convoy. Following satellite readings, M.A.S.K. finds the gang inside a geological research center in Central City and takes the computer component they came for, a device that diverts earthquakes away from populated areas. Bruce works out that the plutonium is meant to power a pump that forces water into a fault, which would explain the draining of the lake where Scott is staying. M.A.S.K. then sets a trap around a second computer box, and the ambush almost works.

Coming Soon!

You cannot judge what is under the surface by looking at it: that is the quiet argument of Highway to Terror, and it makes the episode more coherent than its plot summary suggests. A military convoy is stopped on a highway by a man who says he is a magician come to entertain the troops, and while the captain is watching the act a truck carrying plutonium disappears. Nobody has an explanation, a satellite points M.A.S.K. toward a geological research center in Central City, and the clue that finally makes sense of it all is a lake that has gone half empty.

The writing is a chain of deductions, each one hanging off the last. The research center points to earthquakes; the computer component, which M.A.S.K. grabs in the city, turns out to divert quakes away from populated places; and Bruce, making what he calls an educated guess, works out that if enough water is pumped into a fault the fault will give way, and that the plutonium is meant to drive the pump. The lake where Scott has gone fishing is the proof. It is decent detective work, and it lets the team behave like a team, with the satellite readings, the search of the road and the reasoning each handed to a different agent.

The idea the episode keeps returning to is that appearances lie. Bruce says an illusion is little more than a theft from the eye, and somebody has to translate for the others by saying that the hand is quicker than the eye; the V.E.N.O.M. magicians vanish a truck with trapdoors and smoke bombs, the lake loses its water without anyone noticing, and the safety tip at the end of the episode, about checking the depth of the water before diving, puts the same point to the audience. Then, in a nice unintended irony, the water is judged by eye from the dock and declared to be about nine feet.

The standout is that cold open. Captain Miller tells the man in the road that he is blocking a military convoy, the man says he is a magician come to entertain the troops, and the troops are told to watch the trick while the real one happens behind them. It is the cleverest thing in the episode and among the cheapest to stage; the show trusts a quiet bit of misdirection and does not need an explosion to sell it.

The weakness is how much of the middle is carried by dialogue. Bruce's educated guess is accepted as fact the moment he says it, and the episode shows no one checking the lake, the plutonium or the pump before the plan to use a second computer box is set in motion. The bait is fed to V.E.N.O.M. through intercepted satellite information, and the ambush that follows almost works, which leaves the episode finishing on a near miss rather than a victory, with the earthquake machine still somewhere out of sight.

Early in the run it is a puzzle-driven episode, and one that matches its own safety message. Its own safety tip is the neatest joke it tells: an episode about not trusting your eyes ends by trusting a man's eyes on a dock.

The M.A.S.K. wiki says the sequence of Brad Turner receiving the call from M.A.S.K. while practising his guitar is used again in the later episode Solaria Park.
The M.A.S.K. wiki records that the episode The Magma Mole ends on the same safety message about checking the depth of water, in different circumstances.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists an error in the opening scene: a driver calls his superior Sergeant, but the man introduces himself as Captain Miller.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists Bruce Sato's line that an illusion is little more than a theft from the eye among his Satoisms.
The M.A.S.K. wiki notes that when Matt pats Scott's head, T-Bob can be seen copying the motion as if he were being patted too.
The M.A.S.K. wiki points out that the safety tip about checking the depth of water before diving ends with Matt judging the depth by eye from the dock and calling it about nine feet.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a Golden Books coloring book based on the story that carries the title Highway to Danger.

Matt Trakker

Bruce Sato

Hondo MacLean

Brad Turner

Alex Sector

Buddie Hawks

Dusty Hayes

Gloria Baker

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

Duane Kennedy

T-Bob

Miles Mayhem scowls over the arm of an orange chair.

Miles Mayhem spreads his hands beside a rocking chair on a desert road.

A tall column of smoke rises from the white desert surface.

A soldier in a helmet holds a rifle beside the front of an olive military truck.

A green military box truck rolls along a highway as a light beam rises in the distance.

A soldier in a black beret gestures to one side as another stands behind him.

Soldiers stand scattered on a highway around a military truck and armored vehicles seen from above.

A large brick manor house with a red roof stands behind a green lawn.

A blond man in a blue shirt points while a man in a dark suit stands nearby.

A blond man with folded arms speaks with a man in a dark suit beside a gray machine.

A blond man in a blue shirt looks ahead with a serious face in a gray control room.

A finger presses colored square tiles on a gray panel.

A wrist watch with a masked-head display lies on a hand above technical drawings.

A football player carrying a ball runs beside two teammates in helmets.

Three football players in helmets and white shirts walk forward in a line.

A man in sunglasses and a pink tank top plays an electric guitar.

A red-haired man plays a keyboard in a room full of amplifiers, drums and sheet music.

A green wireframe drawing shows a man in a cap from several angles beside a mask.

A mechanic in a red cap hands a wrench to a heavyset man by a blue car.

A hand holds a wrench near a heavyset man in a vest in front of a blue car.

Three people in business and casual clothes stand on a city street looking worried.

Gloria Baker props up a man who covers his mouth with his hand.

A blond man in a blue shirt sits at a computer console in a gray room.

T-Bob peeks out from under his white dome with both arms raised to his face.

T-Bob raises both arms in a gray room.

T-Bob runs through an open door out of a control room.

Workers in gray suits tend a round vault door and cart inside a cavern chamber.

Two workers in white hoods move a wheeled cart and a round lid beside a vault door.

Cliff Dagger and Vanessa Warfield stand side by side in a dark metal room.

Miles Mayhem squints with his eyes nearly shut in a gray room.

A green grid map shows contour lines.

A blond man with arms crossed sits at a round table beside a bearded man.

Seven people sit around a round table in a big conference room.

People sit around a round conference table under a curved wall with an orange floor ring.

A yellow helmet and a white vehicle hang from gantry arms in a bright hangar.

Bright white lights shine down from a spider-armed fixture.

A dark-haired man touches a pink helmet as light glows behind him.

A blue car tilts on a lift inside a garage with tires on a shelf.

A maroon and white truck rolls out of a garage bay with beams of light above.

Matt Trakker grips the steering wheel of a truck while Scott Trakker and a dark-haired man lean in.

T-Bob stands in front of a red truck cab as a hand rests on his dome.

A mustached man in glasses and a cream sweater gestures with both hands near a log cabin wall.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand with a mustached man outside a log cabin door.

T-Bob, Scott Trakker and a man walk toward a cabin door beside a parked red truck.

A group of M.A.S.K. agents stand on pavement around a red truck and a green motorcycle.

Matt Trakker talks with a man in a red beret and green turtleneck beside a red jeep.

Matt Trakker spreads his palms toward a man in a red beret with folded arms.

A desert landscape of brown rocky hills and dry brush under a blue sky.

Matt Trakker stands at a bank of computer monitors and control panels.

A green screen shows a city street map with a blinking marker.

A diagram shows a Thunderhawk car and a helicopter profile with distance markings.

Tall city skyscrapers stand under a blue sky with clouds.

City office towers rise against a blue sky.

A masked figure holds a gray case in both hands.

Two masked V.E.N.O.M. figures stand by a red truck and red jeep in a city park.

Four figures in masks and uniforms stand in a doorway, one in blue holding a gray case.

A red jeep and truck sit on a lawn with a city skyline beyond.

A figure in a red vest wears a glowing yellow visor and breathing mask beside a white building.

Red and gold energy blasts burst around a doorway.

A figure in a yellow helmet and green vest walks down a city street.

Four masked figures walk forward, one in a gas mask in front.

A woman lies on rubble in a city street as masked figures stand in the distance.

Four masked figures stand close together, the gas-masked man in the lead.

A man in a red vest turns away in an alley as a green-masked figure crouches nearby.

A man in blue pants and a red vest runs along an alley toward a pale building.

Wooden scaffold beams and a burning post rise against the sky with white smoke trails.

A fallen wooden ramp fills the frame as a figure in red and blue runs beyond it.

A yellow beam crosses a debris-strewn alley while a figure in yellow and green stands in its path.

A man in a maroon jacket stands beside broken planks as a yellow beam shoots past.

A man in a red beret and a dark-haired man lift broken planks off a figure.

Matt Trakker looks aside beside a man in a green shirt and a bald bearded man.

A bald bearded man gestures toward an open case while a man in a red beret kneels.

Three men stand together, one in a red beret and one in a dark vest.

A mustached man in a cream sweater fries food in a pan while Scott Trakker talks beside him.

T-Bob rolls into a cabin kitchen on a wheel beside a standing man.

Scott Trakker gestures at a man cooking as T-Bob rolls past in a log cabin kitchen.

T-Bob rolls out of a cabin through the open door toward a lake.

Scott Trakker stands atop a wooden dock above a river and two large spotlights.

Scott Trakker looks surprised with his mouth open in front of pine trees.

T-Bob holds fish in his arms while Scott Trakker watches him.

Scott Trakker talks on a corded phone beside a cabin window.

Four M.A.S.K. agents stand together at night around a seated bald bearded man.

M.A.S.K. agents gather around a large round table in a silver headquarters room.

A man in a red vest leans over a man in a red beret resting his chin.

Matt Trakker sits with a hand on his chest beside Gloria Baker.

Vanessa Warfield and a man in purple watch the road from a rocky ridge.

A truck and a small vehicle drive along a highway as seen from above.

A purple armored truck with a large gray box stands on a road.

A heavyset man in blue and a man in sunglasses face an officer in a brown cap.

A purple armored truck pulls up beside a green military truck.

Miles Mayhem squints while Nash Gorey stands behind him in a visor.

A military officer in a brown uniform stands beside a soldier in a green cap.

Three soldiers stand on a road by an army truck while a balloon floats in the sky.

A purple truck's cab front fills the frame with its windshield and headlights.

A figure on a blue motorcycle rides in a cave tunnel ahead of a white armored truck.

A maroon truck rolls down a ramp into a cave while two guards stand by.

A red and white truck with small flames on its side rolls down a ramp.

Gun barrels fire sparks and a pink beam through a cloud of dust.

A truck grille fires a pink laser beam in a cave.

The hood of the maroon truck shows a headlight cannon and silver exhaust pipe.

A motorcycle wheel and a rider's boot ride through a cave tunnel.

A green motorcycle with a helicopter rotor rides up a cave wall.

A rider in a yellow suit and visor grips the handlebars of a green motorcycle.

A purple vault door with riveted panels fills the frame.

A red jeep drives down a cave tunnel as a purple slime wave splashes beside it.

Electric sparks crackle around gloved hands holding a gray device.

A red truck lies tilted at the foot of a purple dome building as white smoke rises.

Two orange ribbons of light curl across a rock cave with a dark winged shape in the corner.

A red-masked driver steers a vehicle while an orange gas-masked passenger sits behind.

The red-masked driver reaches with an open hand as the orange-masked passenger watches.

Yellow rings spin around a cracked patch of floor in front of an armored boot.

Matt Trakker holds a red helmet under his arm and gestures to a dark-haired man.

Matt Trakker raises a finger and looks straight ahead.

A maroon M.A.S.K. truck with orange stripes drives forward while a white beam of energy hits its side.

The maroon truck fires a purple beam from its side cannon beside a MASK sign.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob run across a wooden dock toward distant mountains.

DISCUSSION

Comments launch with the forum.

The mask.toys forum and the comment threads beneath every article come online together. Drop your email below and we will let you know the moment they go live.