M.A.S.K. S1E13

The Creeping Terror

Synopsis

Giant caterpillars sprawl across a bare clearing as Matt Trakker watches from the corner.

Giant caterpillars attack a village boat in a tropical jungle, and Matt Trakker, visiting a hospital he helped fund, goes to see the damage himself. A computer check of the eggshell shows the eggs were genetically altered, and the stripped forest turns out to be V.E.N.O.M.'s work: Miles Mayhem is using the caterpillars to clear the ground and uncover a vast map carved by the ancient Malacca civilization. The map points to a source of great power, and the way there runs past a waterfall into a hidden valley. M.A.S.K. and V.E.N.O.M. race to it, Mayhem uses a crystal to start the power source, and the overload leaves M.A.S.K.'s masks useless. The episode ends with the caterpillars entering their cocoon state.

Memorable Quotes

Coming Soon!

mask.toys Episode Review

Giant caterpillars make an odd villain, because the first thing M.A.S.K. learns about them is that they are not hunting anyone. They raid a village boat for its fruit, and the villagers tell a story that is hard to believe. Someone on the team points out that the creatures went for the food and ignored the people, and that remark is the first real clue. Add a computer analysis showing the eggs have been genetically altered, a clearing stripped of every scrap of vegetation, and eggshells big enough to wedge a vehicle inside, and Matt Trakker has a mystery with nobody to blame yet.

Here is what the episode is about: the monsters are equipment. V.E.N.O.M. has grown a herd of hungry machines to clear a jungle, because what it wants lies on the ground underneath, a map cut into the earth by the ancient Malacca civilization that points toward a source of great power. Every raid and every ruined palm is groundwork for that, and the best idea in Mel Gilden's script is that the creeping terror of the title is a clearing operation. The agents also work it out in a satisfying order, from the eggs to a stone wall that has to be thousands of years old and then to the realization that Mayhem has been using the caterpillars to clear away the jungle.

The reveal travels through the computer rather than through a camera move. A white maze fills the screen, lines of text appear beside it, and the maze resolves into blue contour lines that tell us where the waterfall and the hidden valley sit. It is understated, and it gives the deciphering a few moments of its own. The caterpillars are the stronger design work, with pale, wide faces with round green eyes on grey segmented bodies, drawn so that the same face looks mildly comic chewing a palm frond and properly alarming when it opens a mouth full of teeth over a small orange truck. Scott and T-Bob supply the lighter touches, and the chase with the caterpillars closing in on that truck is the one scene where the monsters are near enough to count as a threat.

The standout is the cave. Mayhem sets a pink crystal into a stand ringed with orange light, a high whine starts, and the computer reports a power source overloading. Then the Spectrum mask fails, a blaster fails after it, and the team concludes that if Spectrum does not work, the other weapons are useless too. A show built around transforming vehicles and powered helmets takes away the helmets, and the episode trusts its setup long enough to let it bite.

The resolution is where the episode loses some of its nerve. The caterpillars go into their cocoon state, and someone explains that because of their size their metabolism is different and they will probably sleep for centuries. Biology gets the last word, which is a thin payoff for a team the episode has just stripped of its masks.

This is one of the odder premises of the run, and it hangs together: monsters as tools, a map underneath the monsters, and a power source that cancels the masks. It also shows what the series did best, which was to make the question of how V.E.N.O.M. gets something more interesting than what it does with it. The caterpillars were only ever the lawnmower, and the episode is kind enough to let them stay pale, hungry and slightly absurd rather than pretending they are evil.

Notes of Interest

  1. The M.A.S.K. wiki credits this episode's story to Mel Gilden.
  2. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the episode's location as a Central American jungle, while its own plot blurb refers to a South American jungle, so the setting is described inconsistently even on the fan reference.
  3. According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, the safety tip at the end has Matt warning Scott never to ride his bike with T-Bob sitting on the handlebars.
  4. The M.A.S.K. wiki notes that the M.A.S.K. Computer's selection of agents in this episode runs without the usual cutaways to the agents' civilian lives, and that Brad Turner is shown without his signature glasses.
  5. The M.A.S.K. wiki records a voice slip: Kala and the other native have different voices when they first meet the caterpillars, but both use the same voice when they report at the hospital.
  6. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a drawing error at about 17:45, where Hocus Pocus is missing the three black dots under its visor at nose level.
  7. The M.A.S.K. wiki points out that Vanessa Warfield is shown taking aerial photos from the passenger seat of Manta, with her vehicle apparently on autopilot.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →

Matt Trakker

Alex Sector

Hondo MacLean

Brad Turner

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Episode screenshots

Spiky durians and bananas lie piled in a canoe.
Spiky durians and bananas lie piled in a canoe.
Two villagers in headbands watch a canoe heaped with fruit from the shore.
Two giant caterpillars crawl along a log in the jungle.
A villager shields his head as giant caterpillars lunge at the fruit.
Three giant caterpillars bare their jagged mouths in a row.
Villagers pound grain in a large wooden mortar outside a hut as a child watches.
Scott Trakker stands with a spear while T-Bob carries cameras on his chest.
T-Bob holds a camera as small caterpillars dangle on threads around him.
Scott Trakker pulls a worried face as small caterpillars crawl on him and T-Bob.
Matt Trakker folds his arms as a woman in a yellow blouse talks to him.
Matt Trakker folds his arms as a woman in a yellow blouse talks to him.
Matt Trakker and a woman face Alex Sector, who has a monkey on his head.
Matt Trakker folds his arms beside a woman as Alex Sector scratches his monkey-topped head.
Matt Trakker, a woman and Alex Sector stand together looking worried.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector frown in a close view.
Alex Sector leans over Scott Trakker and T-Bob while Matt Trakker watches.
Scott Trakker folds his arms beside T-Bob.
Blue-green fern fronds fill the frame.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector peer through the jungle with a monkey on Alex's shoulder.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector stand on a rocky mound with a monkey in the distance.
Matt Trakker pulls a rope looped around Alex Sector while a monkey clings behind him.
Matt Trakker pulls a rope looped around Alex Sector while a monkey clings behind him.
A finger presses buttons on a purple control panel.
A bright flash lights keys on the purple control panel.
Two giant caterpillars crawl past a crate and a palm tree.
A giant caterpillar chews a palm frond.
A giant caterpillar rears toward the viewer in a cleared jungle.
Sly Rax speeds up a road on a blue motorcycle.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector dash through ferns past a small brown animal.
Sly Rax wheels his blue motorcycle past two white puffs.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector sit at a table lit by an oil lamp in a tent.
A blue screen shows an outlined man, a visored helmet and two portraits.
A blue screen shows an outlined man, a visored helmet and two portraits.
A blue screen shows red outlines of two motorcycles, one with a rotor.
A line drawing of a stern man's head and shoulders fills a blue screen.
A jungle tree with hanging vines rises over ferns.
Alex Sector, Matt Trakker and two agents stand behind a rock ledge in the jungle.
Scott Trakker drags a net bundle beside T-Bob next to an orange vehicle.
Alex Sector, Matt Trakker and two agents crouch behind the rock ledge.
Alex Sector, Matt Trakker and two agents walk toward Rhino as a plane flies over.
Scott Trakker smiles while holding a netted bundle beside T-Bob.
A rider in yellow races a green motorbike through pink energy flashes.
A rider in yellow races a green motorbike through pink energy flashes.
An agent in yellow grips the handlebar of a green vehicle.
Dust kicks up from a jungle road beside palm trees.
Alex Sector scowls in a blue hood and visor behind a truck's exhaust stacks.
Alex Sector grimaces in his blue hood and visor.
An orange pickup splashes through a puddle on a jungle road in a rainstorm.
A masked V.E.N.O.M. agent in a dark helmet leans back in his seat.
A man in a green jacket flips through the air above jungle leaves.
An orange pickup lurches over a clearing as pale blobs splatter around it.
A pink flash fills the frame behind a shadowed hand and a vehicle dashboard.
A dark vehicle jolts between large speckled eggshells in a field.
A dark vehicle jolts between large speckled eggshells in a field.
Broken speckled shell pieces lie scattered across a hillside.
A purple winged vehicle tumbles through the sky seen from below.
Thunderhawk rises on orange exhaust with its wings spread.
Matt Trakker grips the steering wheel in his visored mask.
A dark winged vehicle flies away trailing orange exhaust.
A dark vehicle sits stuck inside a broken speckled shell.
Giant caterpillars close in on a small orange vehicle.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob look alarmed inside a truck cab.
Scott Trakker tumbles with T-Bob, eyes shut.
A caterpillar's face looms between grey bodies above a small orange vehicle.
A caterpillar's face looms between grey bodies above a small orange vehicle.
A giant caterpillar's open mouth full of teeth looms over an orange vehicle.
A caterpillar's mouth and green eyes fill the frame.
A grey bundle fills the frame beside a red glove.
Two giant caterpillars open their mouths, one lifting its head.
T-Bob glares beside a man in a brown jacket.
Scott Trakker, T-Bob and a goggled man in a red helmet look ahead from a vehicle.
Matt Trakker in his visored mask stands beside Alex Sector in his blue hood.
Three agents stand beside an orange pickup in a muddy clearing.
A maze-like white pattern fills a blue screen.
A maze-like white pattern fills a blue screen.
The maze pattern stays on screen as lines of text appear on the right.
Alex Sector presses a keyboard as two agents watch.
A glowing white maze sits over a blue grid on a screen.
A screen displays rows of glowing blue characters.
A screen shows blue contour lines like a topographic map.
An almost blank blue screen shows a few colored blocks at its corner.
Miles Mayhem reads a paper with Vanessa Warfield, Cliff Dagger and Sly Rax beside him.
Miles Mayhem frowns with Vanessa Warfield and Cliff Dagger behind him.
Miles Mayhem sits strapped into a cockpit seat.
A blue drone hovers over two vehicles in a cave lined with giant caterpillars.
A blue drone hovers over two vehicles in a cave lined with giant caterpillars.
A giant caterpillar climbs a carved stone wall in ruins.
Miles Mayhem stands with Vanessa Warfield, Cliff Dagger and Sly Rax.
Miles Mayhem holds a pink crystal near his chin as the others look on.
Miles Mayhem smiles with a crystal held against his nose.
Miles Mayhem raises a glowing crystal as Vanessa Warfield, Cliff Dagger and Sly Rax watch.
Miles Mayhem holds up the glowing crystal in front of a carved wall.
Miles Mayhem looks on with Vanessa Warfield and Sly Rax behind him.
Rhino, a red car, an orange pickup and a green buggy drive across sandy ground.
An agent in yellow rides a green motorbike past a waterfall in a canyon.
A giant truck wheel with a lamp faces a bright cave exit.
A giant truck wheel with a lamp faces a bright cave exit.
Miles Mayhem rubs his gloved hands together inside glowing orange rings.
The pink crystal glows in the center of orange rings on a stand.
Miles Mayhem glares sideways from a strapped seat.
Alex Sector works a glowing keypad in a blue hood.
Matt Trakker grips the steering wheel in his visored helmet.
Alex Sector and Matt Trakker hurry from their vehicles with Scott Trakker, T-Bob and two agents.
A dark motorcycle and a black armored truck with a snake emblem sit in a cave.
Matt Trakker, a goggled man and a yellow-suited agent stand together as Scott Trakker watches.
A frosted pine tree stands between two dark vehicle edges.
A frosted pine tree stands between two dark vehicle edges.
Miles Mayhem sits glaring in his strapped seat.
A yellow-suited agent, a goggled man, Matt Trakker and Scott Trakker walk through the cave.
A yellow-suited agent, a goggled man and Matt Trakker walk through the cave.
Two giant caterpillars with green eyes stare at the viewer.
A transparent bubble drifts between two giant caterpillars.
Matt Trakker, a goggled man and Alex Sector in his blue hood look on in the cave.
Two caterpillars sit on cave ground with a faint bubble beside them.
Two caterpillars with open mouths stare ahead.
Scott Trakker stands with T-Bob in a dark cave.
Rhino's grille and exhaust stack fill the frame.
Rhino's grille and exhaust stack fill the frame.
Yellow light beams burst from a rock mass.
White blast flashes spread across the rock.
Rhino and an orange pickup stand at the mouth of a vine-covered cave.
Alex Sector, Matt Trakker, Scott Trakker, T-Bob and two agents line up before Rhino.
Pale caterpillar bodies loop over tree roots.
T-Bob spreads his arms against a grey backdrop.
Rhino sits with M.A.S.K. lettering on its trailer.
Scott Trakker rides a bicycle with T-Bob balanced on the handlebars.
Matt Trakker holds a garden hose in a yellow shirt as Scott Trakker and T-Bob bike past.

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.