M.A.S.K. S1E56

Stone Trees

A mustached man in blue and a man in a white jacket face a screen of wood grain.

Jacques is cutting timber in the Canadian woods when his saw hits a petrified pine covered in carved markings. He calls Matt, and Black Fox, a logger from the Nootka tribe, explains the legend of a golden totem pole hidden between two stone trees. Matt brings Scott and T-Bob to find the second tree, but V.E.N.O.M. gets there first, uproots the forest and removes the stone tree so its computer can translate the markings. While M.A.S.K. chases the thieves, a bear chases Scott and T-Bob, who end up adrift on a log raft. V.E.N.O.M. digs up the totem and finds that it is only amber, and Black Fox tells the heroes it is far more precious to his people than gold.

Not without a matching handbag.

The most useful thing a thief can learn about a treasure is what it means to the people it belongs to, and in "Stone Trees" V.E.N.O.M. learns it only after the digging is done. A logging crew in the Canadian woods saws into a pine that has turned to solid rock and carries carved markings. Jacques phones Matt, who drives out with Scott and T-Bob, and Black Fox, a logger from the Nootka tribe, supplies the legend: an ancient chief angered the gods, the tribe carved a golden totem pole to make peace, and the pole lies hidden between two stone trees. Find the second tree and the totem follows.

The episode is about what a treasure is worth and who is doing the counting. Jacques says the future of Black Fox's people depends on the search, while V.E.N.O.M. turns up with a crane truck, a translating computer and a plan to melt the totem down. Both sides are after the same object in the same forest, and the story states each side's idea of its value early so that the end can test it.

The writing keeps the legwork brisk. A laser trip drops a row of trees across the road, the first stone tree is gone when the party reaches the spot, and the trees around it have been uprooted to hide where it stood. The party reads the pitch marks on the trunks as V.E.N.O.M.'s calling card. The villains' machine is a crane on a pink body with a boom arm, an odd colour for a logging rig, and one frame shows a screen filled with wood grain as the computer works on the carvings, a neat way to put a translation on screen without a line of explanation.

Scott and T-Bob carry the comic half. A logger lends T-Bob climbing spikes, T-Bob falls and reports that he has voided his warranty, and a bear later chases the pair through a hollow trunk and out onto a river on a log raft. The spikes T-Bob is told to keep as a souvenir, and the safety belt he is handed, come back when Scott and T-Bob end up in a tree above V.E.N.O.M.'s dig and Scott says he is glad T-Bob kept the belt with spikes. That callback is the best joke in the episode because it is set up, left alone, and paid off in the right place. T-Bob's early preference for a department-store aluminum tree over a real forest sets the tone for a script that would sooner make a pun than raise its voice, and the villains get the same treatment when one of them praises Mayhem as a tactical genius and a colleague tells him to shut up.

The standout is the reveal at the dig. One voice admires the totem as an irreplaceable piece of folk art, another is already eager to melt it down, a purity check follows, and the verdict is amber and worthless. Mayhem calls the crew away from the object they dug up a forest to find, and the scene lets the thieves dismiss the very thing the tribe wants back. Black Fox's remark afterwards, that to his people it is far more precious than gold, closes the loop without a lecture.

The weak point is the logic between the carvings and the log pile. V.E.N.O.M.'s computer translates the drawings, and the next time the totem comes up Mayhem is sending the crew to dig in a heap of old logs; as far as the transcript and the frames show, nothing explains how the first became the second. M.A.S.K. never works out the location itself either. Matt's team, with Jacques and Brad on it, spends the climax dealing with V.E.N.O.M.'s jamming beam and a missile, so the heroes' own search for the second tree never pays off.

Among its neighbours "Stone Trees" is a small, pleasant episode: light on gadgetry, kind to its guest character, and built around the idea that the people who never wanted the gold are the ones who value the totem most.

The M.A.S.K. wiki's continuity notes for this episode say the transport plane cannot land in the forest, so Condor flies out and Volcano dives off the ramp with a parachute, yet Volcano is already visible behind Jacques at the start; the wiki adds that it is unclear whether Volcano has an unseen driver or runs by remote control, and who pilots the jet.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a jump cut in the scrolling background plate when Scott and T-Bob run from the bear, and says the same thing happens again when they run from Jackhammer in the forest.
The M.A.S.K. wiki points out that Cliff Dagger's shirt is orange instead of dark blue in the shot where Mayhem tells him to wait until the heroes are in range, and it carries a still captioned as Dagger dressed in orange.
The M.A.S.K. wiki says this is one of the first 65 episodes in which V.E.N.O.M. agent Sly Rax does not appear.
In the episode Black Fox is a Nootka logger; Wikipedia says Nootka is a former name for the Nuu-chah-nulth, whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia.
The M.A.S.K. wiki records this episode's safety tip as Scott making a mask out of paper while T-Bob puts a plastic bag over his head, which leads Scott to warn him about suffocating.

Matt Trakker

Jacques LaFleur

Brad Turner

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Bruno Sheppard

Nash Gorey

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Jacques holds a chainsaw beside a lumberjack in a red vest.

Two loggers kneel at the base of a huge tree while a third stands behind.

A lumberjack in a white headband and a dark-haired man look on, worried.

Jacques raises one finger as he speaks.

A large mansion with tennis courts and a pool sits in green grounds.

A log cabin with a chimney stands in the woods.

Matt holds a telephone receiver to his ear.

Scott packs a suitcase on a bed while T-Bob stands beside it.

T-Bob holds a stack of folded clothes against his chest.

Matt drives while Scott and T-Bob sit beside him.

Scott frowns, buckled in beside T-Bob.

Scott speaks beside T-Bob next to a red car with its door raised.

A crowd of loggers gathers, one raising a hard hat.

Matt shakes hands with Jacques as Scott, T-Bob and a man in a maroon shirt look on.

Scott gestures with an open hand beside T-Bob.

Scott smiles and gestures among pine trees.

Scott shows T-Bob a coil of rope with metal hooks.

T-Bob steps forward holding a coil of rope in one hand.

Scott points up at a tree trunk while T-Bob ties himself on with a rope.

Eight loggers and Matt stand in a sunlit clearing.

T-Bob climbs up a tree trunk on a rope.

T-Bob hangs upside down on a tree trunk.

T-Bob peers out from behind a thick bush.

Scott stands among a row of loggers, with Jacques holding rope beside him.

Scott smiles and opens a hand toward the loggers.

Jacques listens while a logger in a red cap points upward.

Matt and Jacques stand face to face in profile.

A logger in a red knit cap looks stern.

Matt drives with Scott, T-Bob and three loggers in the car.

Tall redwood trunks stand in a quiet forest.

Scott talks with his hands clasped beside T-Bob.

Matt drives with a calm expression.

A logger in a red cap leans back as Scott and T-Bob slump in the seat.

Matt drives with a man in overalls and a man in a red cap in the seats behind.

A red car with the group beside it stands far off on a dirt clearing.

Scott, T-Bob, Jacques and Matt stand beside the red car.

A logger in a red cap touches a log as Matt and Jacques stand behind him.

Scott points up as T-Bob stands beside him.

Scott looks down at T-Bob, who reaches out with an arm.

Scott stares ahead wide-eyed among pine trees.

A logger in a red cap raises one finger.

Jacques speaks and gestures in his overalls.

A dashboard screen shows a man's face in sunglasses.

The dashboard shows a motorcycle and a man in sunglasses.

Several people stand in a doorway.

Many hands pull a yellow-green cloth taut.

A logger in a red cap looks to the side.

A bush stands in a forest clearing.

A logger in a red cap points as Scott watches, alarmed.

A man in a maroon shirt flips through the air in a forest.

T-Bob stands between two trunks with his arms stretched wide.

Scott gapes at T-Bob walking across a dirt clearing.

T-Bob looks around inside a hollow tree.

Scott and T-Bob crouch inside the hollow tree trunk.

T-Bob rolls over Scott's chest inside the hollow trunk.

A pilot in a blue and orange helmet grips two control sticks.

Scott and T-Bob peer out from inside the hollow tree.

A black bear snarls at the opening of the hollow.

T-Bob clasps his hands in fear as Scott watches.

Scott and T-Bob tumble upside down in the hollow.

Scott smiles over his shoulder under open sky.

Scott and T-Bob ride a hollow log as it drops into the water.

A crane arm on a pink truck points over the forest.

A man in an army helmet looks stern while holding up his fingers.

Miles frowns with a stern look in his uniform.

A crane arm rises from a pink machine with a yellow panel.

A large gray cargo bay stands empty with a long white feather-shaped object at the right.

Matt drives a red vehicle while Brad rides a green motorcycle helicopter behind.

A blue vehicle with a missile turret stands in the forest.

T-Bob and Scott stand on a floating log raft at a cliff.

T-Bob walks past a bush as Scott stands with his hands at his sides.

Scott leans on a log and speaks to T-Bob.

Splintered wood chips cover the ground.

A black tanker truck, an orange car and a black truck sit on a logging clearing.

Miles holds out one arm beside a dark vehicle.

Miles stands near an orange car and a gray crane truck.

Bruno stands with crossed arms next to a crane truck.

The Switchblade helicopter and an orange vehicle sit in a forest clearing.

Scott hides behind a tree as a crane grabs a log.

Scott studies T-Bob, looking worried.

Scott stands with hands clasped beside T-Bob.

Scott rubs his chin while T-Bob points aside.

T-Bob's face fills the left half of the frame next to a split view of Matt.

Brad looks up in his yellow suit and blue visor helmet.

Scott leans over to examine T-Bob near a tree.

Bruno stands with hands on hips among Miles and two others.

Miles pinches his chin while scowling.

A man with glasses watches a screen of red concentric rings.

Matt drives in a red helmet while pink smoke trails by the dashboard.

A bespectacled man reaches out as an orange blast explodes behind a crane truck.

A bespectacled man staggers beside a console as a hole splits the truck.

Scott looks worried beside T-Bob in a transparent fade.

Scott gasps beside T-Bob among pine trees.

Scott holds a hand to his chin and thinks beside T-Bob.

A dark figure carries a bundle of branches past a fallen tree.

Scott warns with both hands raised.

A dark-helmeted agent crouches over a log while T-Bob rolls past.

T-Bob and Scott walk along a dirt path in the forest.

Scott steps onto a log raft in a river with T-Bob.

Miles looks stern in front of a forest.

Miles holds a walkie-talkie beside a tree.

Miles steps past a totem pole toward a car.

Matt grips the steering wheel in his red mask.

A river slants across a forested hillside.

White rapids foam beside a cliff.

Scott poles a log raft past a cliff with T-Bob raising both arms.

Scott pulls a man in a red cap from the water onto the rocks.

Scott stands with a coil of rope beside T-Bob at a cliff.

A crane claw lifts a man in a red cap over a stream.

A log cabin stands among pines.

Scott raises one fist next to T-Bob.

Scott puts his hands on his hips beside T-Bob.

A black Jackhammer toy truck and a blue and red motorcycle sit on sand.

An aerial view of a large mansion with a pool and tennis court.

Scott raises a finger as if making a point.

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