M.A.S.K. S1E01

The Deathstone

A figure in a hooded suit raises a camera toward a glowing flying saucer hovering above the canyon.

A meteor that makes plants grow lands in a desert canyon, and V.E.N.O.M. lifts it away under a faked UFO while a scientist films the theft. She survives a jeep crash into a river and is brought to Matt Trakker, who sends for M.A.S.K. Miles Mayhem cuts the stone into pieces and offers them to foreign buyers, with bidding starting at fifty million dollars for a piece. Scott and T-Bob stow away on the mission, Hondo is hurt shielding the boy, and the pair end up bringing back the last piece. Put back together, the stone heals Hondo and then loses its power.

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What does a secret agency look like when its agents are caught in the middle of an ordinary afternoon? The Deathstone answers within a few minutes, when the M.A.S.K. computer starts reading out personnel files and the cartoon cuts to a pet shop where a man holds a snake, then to a table spread with blueprints, each agent summoned from somewhere mundane to a mission nobody around them knows exists. It is a smart way to meet a whole team, because we see them as people with jobs before we see them as pilots, and the computer's flat recitation of name, skill and vehicle codename turns the roll call into a ritual the series will go on repeating.

The plot wrapped around those introductions is tidy. A glowing meteor lands in the desert and greens the crater around it; V.E.N.O.M. carries it off under a flying saucer that turns out to be a helicopter in a costume; a scientist films the theft and survives a jeep's plunge off a cliff into a river; Matt Trakker's computer reads her tape, names the culprit and sends for the team. Miles Mayhem then breaks the stone into pieces and says the bidding starts at fifty million dollars for a piece of it, which is where the title comes from, since the thing that greened the crater becomes a weapon once it is cut. It gives M.A.S.K. a reason to split into groups and chase separate trucks.

For all its introductions, though, the episode is about Scott Trakker, a boy who breaks the mission and then repairs it. According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, he and T-Bob stow away in Firecracker, Scott is thrown out during a near-collision, and Hondo is hurt shielding him; everything the boy does afterwards is repayment. He finds a radio and calls home, he and T-Bob keep a V.E.N.O.M. sale off balance, and he finally brings back the last piece of the stone in the truck he and T-Bob took. The child is allowed to be both the cause of the trouble and the cure for it, which is a sturdier backbone than the meteor.

The animation is loud, and the loudness is useful. The crater glows green against a yellow canyon wall, Rhino fires a purple beam from a cannon at its front wheel, and a pink bubble of energy crackles against a wall with a small yellow vehicle tumbling inside it.

The standout is the seaplane sale. Scott has crept into Switchblade's cockpit to radio his father while T-Bob, sent to create a diversion, wanders into the middle of Mayhem's sale and asks when the next bus to Denver is due; a buyer demands to know whether this is Mayhem's idea of a joke, and Mayhem protests that he knows nothing about it. Asked about M.A.S.K., T-Bob says he knows nobody of that name, though he once knew a Marvin. The cover story is hopeless and the scene knows it, and the hopelessness is what makes it work: nobody at the sale can work out what they are looking at, and the delay is all Scott needs.

The weak spot is the ending. The third piece turns up, the stone is put back together, Hondo wakes up well, and the stone goes dead, a tidy way to retire a plot device that has done its work but one that leaves the closing minutes with nothing left to fight over. Earlier, Matt leaves his son and T-Bob at home with a professor he has only just met while he goes to headquarters, a choice the plot needs and the characters do not quite earn.

As a pilot it lays out the pattern the series will lean on: the call-up, the split into groups, the child in peril, and a closing safety lesson about stopping at the street when a ball rolls away. It is overstuffed and cheerful, but the mix of ordinary lives and secret hardware is already the show's best idea, and the boy at its centre holds the episode together!

The M.A.S.K. wiki records The Deathstone as the first appearance of all the characters and vehicles listed for it.
The M.A.S.K. wiki notes that Dusty dropping his pizza when he receives the M.A.S.K. call is reused in the later episode Solaria Park.
The M.A.S.K. wiki points out that the title object is technically a meteorite, since it survived the trip through the atmosphere and reached the ground, although the show calls it a meteor.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a cameo for Penny among the beachgoers.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists an error in the theft: Cliff Dagger is seen with a remote control guiding the fake UFO, but the UFO shell was actually carrying Switchblade.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists several tie-ins to the episode: a Golden Books title called Mission: Meteor, a set of View-Master reels, and a 1986 Knight Books paperback novelization by Kenneth Harper and Bruce Hogarth, numbered 01 in its series.
The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Sharon Noble with Professor Stevens and the M.A.S.K. Computer in this episode.

Matt Trakker

Brad Turner

Bruce Sato

Alex Sector

Hondo MacLean

Dusty Hayes

Buddie Hawks

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Armed technicians in white hazard suits and purple hoods stand before a canyon where army trucks are parked.

A glowing saucer hovers over the canyon beyond army trucks, seen past a huge wheel.

The saucer turns dark green as it hovers above the canyon camp and trucks.

A green crater opens in the middle of lush grass at the meteor site.

An empty yellow canyon wall and sandy floor, with faint grid lines from a transition.

Professor Stevens runs toward a green jeep parked beside a big truck wheel.

Professor Stevens grips the steering wheel of the jeep, her hair streaming back.

Two figures stand at the rim of a deep crater high above, looking down the sloped wall.

A rider on a blue and red motorcycle with a sidecar races across the desert.

A blue and red motorcycle with a sidecar leaps through the air, kicking up dust.

A small green jeep drives along a canyon road toward a distant mesa.

A truck wheel rolls through an orange explosion on the canyon floor.

Two figures in dark suits stand on a rocky ledge against a cloudy sky.

The Trakker Mansion sits among trees, with a tennis court and a pool in front.

Matt Trakker smiles faintly, holding a red book in a study.

Professor Stevens holds a small device in her hand while seated on a sofa.

Scott Trakker returns a ping-pong shot while T-Bob plays at the other end of the table.

T-Bob peers over the ping-pong table with arms raised and a ball stuck to one hand.

Matt Trakker works the control console, his back to the camera.

A monitor shows the green crater from above.

Matt Trakker sits at the console while Scott and T-Bob stand behind him.

Professor Stevens spreads her hands and talks in a room with a mountain painting behind her.

Professor Stevens spreads her hands and glances aside in the same room.

A blue screen shows a line-drawn agent in full length, with two head views and a helmet.

A blue screen shows a line drawing of a man in glasses and a high-collared suit.

A wrist communicator showing a mask icon sits on an arm over a table of blueprints.

Matt Trakker talks with a bald, bearded man holding a snake in a pet store.

A wrist communicator with a mask icon sits on a green sleeve over a world map.

A blue screen shows a line drawing of an armored agent with face views and a helmet.

A blue screen shows a line drawing of a man in a flat cap and jacket.

Matt Trakker sits at a control panel in profile, looking ahead.

Matt Trakker walks out of a round door toward a teal car on rails.

Matt Trakker sits in the teal rail car as it moves along the track.

Scott Trakker carries T-Bob through a doorway into the control room.

Miles Mayhem grips a control lever between two henchmen.

Three potted plants stand in a row, in orange, green and white flowers.

The same three potted plants glow red against a purple background.

Miles Mayhem clenches one fist and waves a paper in the other.

A small building with an antenna stands beside a road cut into a rocky hillside.

Seven people sit around a round table in a conference room with a dark wall screen.

A green map screen shows contour lines and a glowing orange dot.

People sit around the round table in the yellow-ringed meeting room.

Agents sit around the round conference table, seen from a lower angle.

A spidery mechanical device shines three bright blue lights downward.

Matt Trakker lifts a red-and-white helmet toward his head.

A blue vehicle tilts upright in a garage bay with a striped ceiling.

Matt Trakker sits at the wheel of a red sports car as it drives out of the garage.

A dark-haired driver in an orange vest grips the wheel of a truck cab in the canyon.

A blond driver in a red cap and jacket glances sideways and smiles behind the wheel.

Two blue box trucks drive side by side through the canyon.

Miles Mayhem holds a blue helmet between a visored henchman and an eyepatch henchman.

Matt Trakker drives with both red-gloved hands on the wheel, a purple mesa through the window.

Rocky yellow hills rise under a cloudy sky as seen through a vehicle window.

A masked driver in blue grips a radio handset inside a vehicle cab.

A masked driver in blue grips both fists on the controls inside an open cab.

A rider in yellow pops a wheelie on a green motorcycle as an orange vehicle leaps past overhead.

A masked driver in a red and white helmet steers with a red-gloved hand.

A pink glowing truck leaps off a ledge as a helicopter hovers behind it.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob huddle under a purple blanket, Scott looking worried.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stay under the purple blanket, Scott looking to the side.

A motorcycle inside a pale blue bubble speeds along the canyon road.

A man in a brown jacket and blue visor mask holds a handset in a vehicle.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob ride in an orange cart below a large red truck.

An orange jeep with yellow lightning bolts on its hood drives toward the camera.

A man in a brown jacket and red-blue helmet runs toward Scott Trakker on the sand.

A black truck with a roof-mounted launcher drives through a canyon, a figure standing on its roof.

A black truck and a motorcyclist travel the canyon road under a blue sky.

T-Bob stands in the road while Scott Trakker crouches beside him in the canyon.

T-Bob rolls on his single wheel while Scott Trakker holds his hands out against the rock.

A figure in an orange mask with a breathing hose stands beside a figure with a red armband.

Rhino sits parked in the canyon, its MASK lettering on the cab.

Rhino fires a purple beam from a cannon at its front wheel.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand beside a blue box truck on a paved road.

T-Bob looks at the camera with wide yellow eyes and a red mouth.

Scott Trakker looks over his shoulder next to T-Bob.

T-Bob stands with arms hanging by his sides, his yellow eyes facing front.

A finger presses a white button on a control panel with two round radar screens.

Rhino rolls across the desert, kicking up dust from its front wheel.

Scott Trakker leans into a vehicle cab and looks toward the controls.

Hands work a cockpit control panel, one pressing a button and one gripping a red lever.

T-Bob is lifted by two hands against a blue sky.

A blue and black jet with an orange canopy skids across a paved lot beside a lake.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand beside the cab of a big blue box truck.

A blue box truck drives away across a paved lot, kicking up dust, mountains behind.

A rider in yellow on a green motorcycle waits in front of Rhino.

A green and yellow motorcycle speeds down a rocky canyon road with white speed lines streaking outward.

Money flies through the air as men in suits and a masked fighter scatter on a paved lot.

A black car sits on the pavement near a green army truck.

A pink energy bubble crackles against a wall as a small yellow vehicle tumbles inside.

Rhino idles on the paved lot, its cab and stacks gleaming.

Purple discs float in the sky over a crate-filled yard and a parked truck.

A figure in an orange mask with yellow goggles and a breathing hose grips the controls.

A masked driver in a blue vest steers an orange jeep along the beach.

Two sunbathing women point at an orange jeep and its masked driver on the beach.

A man in dark sunglasses and a navy coat leans on a yacht railing.

Two glassy blue figures climb onto a boat deck at the railing.

A masked driver in an orange hydroplane pulls alongside a yacht as a glassy blue figure drops.

A masked driver in a red and white helmet steers a car, seen from the side.

A masked driver in a red and white helmet grips the steering wheel, facing forward.

A red sports car with raised doors flies above pine trees.

Dark green pine trees fill a valley under a purple evening sky.

A black jet and a red flying car cross low over a pine forest.

A V.E.N.O.M. pilot in a blue mask holds a radio in a cockpit.

Snow-heavy pine branches frame a valley under clouds.

Matt Trakker smiles faintly and holds a red and white helmet in his hands.

Matt Trakker holds a blue box while Scott Trakker and T-Bob smile beside him.

Matt Trakker holds the blue box as Scott Trakker gestures with a thumb.

Professor Stevens looks off to the side in front of a console.

A man lies eyes closed under crackling white energy as people watch through a window.

Scott Trakker raises both arms in triumph in front of a group of teammates and T-Bob.

Matt Trakker rests a hand on Professor Stevens's shoulder, thumbing toward something.

Scott Trakker looks worried in front of the same group, T-Bob at the bottom left.

A man in white sits on a bed beside a dark, bumpy rock.

A red sports car with lightning stripes drives out of a rock-walled gate.

T-Bob winds up with a baseball glove in a green clearing.

Scott Trakker stretches a baseball glove overhead beside a purple car near a pond.

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