M.A.S.K. S1E50

The Everglades Oddity

Synopsis

The space shuttle lies on its belly in a grassy field, engines pointing at us.

In the Everglades, two boys from a reptile farm find a full-size plywood space shuttle, and Alex Sector brings the news to Matt Trakker. Matt, Scott and T-Bob fly out and learn that V.E.N.O.M. plans to steal the real shuttle at Cape Canaveral and fly it low over the decoy so chasing planes think it has crashed. Fleeing Cliff Dagger, Matt is bitten by a poisonous snake and is put on bed rest after Scott and T-Bob fetch serum. Alex leads the team to the Cape, where Vanessa Warfield launches the shuttle. Matt slips away, and with T-Bob at the Thunderhawk controls the two shoot the shuttle down.

Memorable Quotes

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mask.toys Episode Review

Who builds a full-size space shuttle out of plywood, parks it in a swamp, and then waits for someone to fly over? Only a villain who knows that nobody will ever walk up and knock on the hull. The decoy in The Everglades Oddity needs a convincing skin and nothing else, and when Alex Sector's find is checked out, it is called a space-age Trojan horse once they see how little is behind the paint.

The scheme is easy to follow even in a cartoon with no time to spare. Miles Mayhem has a contact inside the launch control room in Major Krauss, a pilot in Vanessa Warfield, and a route that takes the stolen shuttle low over the mock-up so that the chase planes decide it has crashed and turn for home. What the episode is really about is how long M.A.S.K. can function without Matt Trakker, and the answer is a sensible one for most of its length. A snake bite takes Matt out of the field, Alex steps up as mission leader, the computer builds the rescue team around him, and Julio Lopez is added with the specific job of looking after the patient. Then the plot finds a way to put the Trakkers back in the middle of the climax anyway. The episode benches its star to show how deep the bench is, and spends its last act letting him back onto the field.

The writing is at its best in the swamp. Matt and Alex slip away from Cliff Dagger under cover of smoke, set off toward the reptile farm, and the bite arrives in the middle of a conversation about how long the walk will be. Alex gives the odds out loud, a window of minutes to hours, and mentions that the snakebite kit is back in the airboat, which gives the cartoon a real clock to work against. Scott and T-Bob then head back for the serum, and for a few minutes the stakes belong to the family rather than to the shuttle. The opening is lighter: T-Bob in a chef's hat at the barbecue, Scott's toy biplane getting cooked, and a running joke about the Red Baron that sets a lighter tone.

The animation saves its effort for the set pieces. The shuttle on its pad beside the gantry, the half-buried silver fuselage in the grass, the fireball that streaks past a grey hull, and the shuttle lying on its belly in an open field are all clean, readable images, and the blue computer screens that show the dossiers match the house style of the series. The voice work has most to offer in the V.E.N.O.M. scenes, where Mayhem boasts that he buys the best, pilots and security chiefs included, and the scene gives Vanessa and the Major their orders.

The standout is Matt's reaction to being benched. Told that Julio has ordered two weeks of bed rest, he answers that if he cannot play, he will coach, and a few scenes later that is what happens: with the fever flaring and the shuttle already in the air, Matt gets into the Thunderhawk, T-Bob ends up at the controls, and Matt talks him through the laser sights and the fire button in plain words while T-Bob protests that he cannot fly. The shuttle comes down on the very field V.E.N.O.M. had picked as its alibi, which is a neat piece of symmetry for a plan that was meant to stay unseen.

The weakness is the bite itself. In the swamp it is a matter of life and death with a timer on it, yet one injection brings Matt back to wisecracks, and the fever returns only when the story needs him in a cockpit. A tighter script would have let the illness settle who flies, so that we could believe in it instead of watching it switch on and off. The argument that a sick man should stay home never gets its turn.

It is a slight episode, though a good showcase for Alex Sector, and the plywood shuttle is the best idea in it.

Notes of Interest

  1. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the Knight Books paperback of this episode as number 07 in the series, written by Kenneth Harper and Bruce Hogarth and published in 1986.
  2. The M.A.S.K. wiki's continuity notes say Julio Lopez's vehicle is mentioned as Firefly during agent selection and later called Dragonfly, an early prototype name, by Alex, and that it is never seen or used in the episode.
  3. The M.A.S.K. wiki records that Alex Sector uses code 1229 to activate the Thunderhawk computer and code 1330 to have it recommend mission personnel, and that the computer picks Julio Lopez only as Matt's personal physician.
  4. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists several errors, among them the countdown that Tower Control stops at two minutes while the countdown is still running at 24 minutes 35 seconds when Sly Rax overrides it, and Ace Riker's sleeves and collar changing colour when he first appears in the Transport Jet.
  5. The M.A.S.K. wiki says Rhino is caught in the shuttle's exhaust at liftoff and that Thunderhawk is damaged when T-Bob crashes it into a tree.
  6. The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Doug Stone with Matt Trakker, Dusty Hayes, Osk and Major David Krauss, and Brendan McKane with both Miles Mayhem and Alex Sector.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →

Matt Trakker

Alex Sector

Julio Lopez

Dusty Hayes

Ace Riker

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Episode screenshots

Two boys in tribal tunics watch through a rope net, one holding a pole.
Two boys in tribal tunics watch through a rope net, one holding a pole.
A dark-haired boy in a tan tunic faces an open stone doorway where another boy stands inside.
A boy in a tan tunic grips a door handle and looks worried.
A boy in a tan tunic presses both hands against a pale grey door.
Alex Sector holds a beaker with a small snake while a boy sits at a lab bench.
Alex Sector gestures with an open hand as a boy listens at the lab bench.
Alex Sector and a boy skim across a lake in a blue airboat.
Alex Sector pries at a stone-framed door with a pole while a boy watches.
Alex Sector points into the dark doorway as two boys stand in front of the stone entrance.
The Trakker Mansion sits beside a tennis court and a pink-edged pool.
The Trakker Mansion sits beside a tennis court and a pink-edged pool.
T-Bob in a chef's hat dissolves into a view of a backyard grill setup.
Matt Trakker smiles with eyes closed, holding a handheld remote against a blue sky.
T-Bob holds a plate with a sandwich and a small red toy plane.
Scott Trakker aims a red toy plane at T-Bob, who cooks in a chef's hat at a grill.
A boy's blue sneakers hover above the grass as he jumps.
A teal window is divided into nine panes.
Matt Trakker leans forward in a high-backed chair facing a control panel.
Scott Trakker smiles at the camera in a control room full of colored data tapes.
Scott Trakker pats the top of T-Bob inside the control room.
Alex Sector gestures to Matt Trakker as they stand outdoors.
Alex Sector gestures to Matt Trakker as they stand outdoors.
A white space shuttle stands on a launch pad beside a steel gantry.
A space shuttle sits on its launch platform beside a steel gantry.
A technician in a headset works at a launch control console.
Major Krauss stands in a green uniform and tie at a launch control console.
A control room window looks out onto the shuttle's launch tower.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector stand with their backs to us, looking out a hut window.
A silver aircraft fuselage lies half buried on a grassy field beside trees.
Matt Trakker and Alex Sector crouch behind green bushes.
Two red-glowing cannon barrels point out from the side of a vehicle.
A black vehicle burns on a green lawn, smoke billowing up.
A black vehicle burns on a green lawn, smoke billowing up.
Alex Sector climbs down a hanging cable out of the bushes.
Matt Trakker bites a knife between his teeth as he hangs on a rope.
Matt Trakker peers through tall swamp grass with a calm look.
A black armed truck sits in a clearing near a burning fire and rising smoke.
Tall trees stand in a bright, empty forest clearing.
A black truck rests behind a tree trunk in the grass, a small figure seated on its roof.
A person runs through the forest, framed by the edge of a black vehicle's wheel.
The black armed truck is parked in a forest clearing between two big trees.
Matt Trakker talks with Alex Sector in a swamp clearing, Alex gesturing with open hands.
Matt Trakker talks with Alex Sector in a swamp clearing, Alex gesturing with open hands.
A box overflowing with spare parts, a fan and a watering can, seen from above.
Scott Trakker, T-Bob and two boys lean over a fan and a pile of junk.
Matt Trakker stands in profile in the forest, looking toward the right.
A yellow and black banded shape lies along a tree branch.
Alex Sector walks toward Matt Trakker, who sits against a tree holding his arm.
Alex Sector strides across the clearing, holding a snake in one hand.
Matt Trakker looks stern in front of a tree trunk.
Alex Sector supports Matt Trakker, who leans on him, in a faded overlay.
A V.E.N.O.M. pilot in a blue mask grips two control sticks in a cockpit.
T-Bob looks wide-eyed with his mouth open against a blue sky.
T-Bob looks wide-eyed with his mouth open against a blue sky.
Scott Trakker looks ahead with a worried look.
Scott Trakker and a blond man's face blend in a faded overlay against the sky.
Scott Trakker speaks beside T-Bob with a radio antenna on its head.
Matt Trakker winces with eyes shut on the grass.
Alex Sector rests a hand on T-Bob while glancing sideways.
Two boys in tunics run past a red sports car with a lightning bolt.
Alex Sector looks right as a dark-haired boy watches beside him.
A blue screen shows a line drawing of a mustached man in armor and a helmet.
A blue screen shows a line drawing of an armored man, two face views and a helmet.
A blue screen shows red line drawings of a van from the front and the side.
A blue screen shows red line drawings of a van from the front and the side.
A blue screen shows a line drawing of a bearded man, two face views and a helmet.
A woman with red hair, holding a helmet, walks toward big metal doors.
A wall of computer panels and monitors in a launch control room.
Five people stand in a row before a window showing the shuttle on its pad.
Vanessa Warfield rests her chin on her fist as a grey-haired man shakes a fist at her.
Vanessa Warfield, Major Krauss, Miles Mayhem and two henchmen talk in the launch control room.
Miles Mayhem raises a gloved fist in front of the shuttle on its launch pad.
Scott Trakker pushes T-Bob beside a dark-haired boy in a clearing, a fan on T-Bob's head.
Scott Trakker and Alex Sector kneel beside Matt Trakker lying in the grass, T-Bob behind with a fan.
Scott Trakker and Alex Sector kneel beside Matt Trakker lying in the grass, T-Bob behind with a fan.
Alex Sector holds a small vial toward Matt Trakker lying on the grass as Scott Trakker leans over.
Matt Trakker squints in pain, lying on the grass.
Matt Trakker looks up with a faint smile, lying on the grass.
Matt Trakker sits propped up on the grass with Scott Trakker, as Alex Sector kneels beside them.
Miles Mayhem and Vanessa Warfield stand facing each other in front of a huge steel track.
Miles Mayhem scowls as Vanessa Warfield's red hair fills the right edge.
Matt Trakker sleeps in a bed with white sheets.
T-Bob shifts a pile of pillows in a bedroom.
A doctor with a mustache and a briefcase stands in a bedroom beside T-Bob.
Matt Trakker sits up in bed in white, a hand raised by a control panel.
Matt Trakker sits up in bed in white, a hand raised by a control panel.
Matt Trakker sits in bed in white, looking down with a hand on his stomach.
Scott Trakker rests his hands on the bed beside T-Bob, who lies under a pillow.
A doctor tends a monitor beside Matt Trakker in bed as Scott Trakker and T-Bob look on.
Matt Trakker lies on a pillow with a determined look.
A dark blue and red helicopter sits on a ledge outside an office building.
Two figures in dark suits run along a grey corridor toward a shattered glass door.
A technician with orange hair and a headset sits at a launch control console.
Rhino rolls out of a hangar bay, a white vehicle behind it.
Alex Sector drives with both hands on the wheel, looking forward.
Rhino roars ahead in front of a blue sky, its side cannon pointing forward.
Rhino roars ahead in front of a blue sky, its side cannon pointing forward.
A red jet sits inside an open compartment on a flat vehicle.
A figure in a dark mask and green jacket stands at a console with a countdown clock.
An astronaut in a white suit sits at a spacecraft control desk.
A V.E.N.O.M. pilot in a blue mask with a gold visor holds a radio handset.
A driver in a red mask and brown jacket grips the controls in a vehicle cab.
Alex Sector's red beard shows under a blue visor mask as he gestures from a cab seat.
A small orange vehicle drives across a paved lot beside a steel scaffold wall.
A steel launch tower rises against the sky.
Two puffs of smoke mark vehicles along a pink beam across a paved lot.
Two puffs of smoke mark vehicles along a pink beam across a paved lot.
A figure in a red and blue suit clings to the side of a steel tower.
Smoke fills the air around a steel tower, a damaged vehicle half hidden in it.
A control screen shows a wave graph and a bar chart above a row of white keys.
A doctor with a mustache and Scott Trakker look worriedly ahead outside a building.
T-Bob grips a steering wheel inside a car.
Matt Trakker holds up his fingers as if gripping something, seated in a car.
Matt Trakker sits belted in the car, eyes narrowed and mouth shut.
Matt Trakker drives while T-Bob sits in the passenger seat.
An astronaut with a dark helmet visor looks forward inside a cockpit.
A fireball roars past a gray hull.
A fireball roars past a gray hull.
Red lights glow within tall swamp grass beside a dense shrub line.
Alex Sector rests a hand on a computer as Scott Trakker looks up at another man.
T-Bob sits on grass with his legs out, facing forward.
Matt Trakker leans toward T-Bob and Scott Trakker, a bandage on his head.
Matt Trakker sits with Scott Trakker, T-Bob, Alex Sector and a doctor standing outdoors.
An orange jeep and a red car with raised doors arrive at a clearing, seen from above.
A V.E.N.O.M. pilot in a blue mask grips two control sticks.
T-Bob walks across a tiled floor holding balloons and a ring-toss toy beside a potted tree.
T-Bob dives headfirst into a pool as balloons and rings fly overhead.

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