M.A.S.K. S1E16

The Golden Goddess

A fleet of small tubs with blue motorcycles are lined up in a diagonal pattern.

Matt Trakker is sightseeing in Singapore with Scott when he learns that golden relics have been vanishing from temples, each from a sealed room. The next target is the Golden Goddess of Sarawak, a 2,000 pound national symbol due to be unsealed in the morning. Matt spots an abandoned water and sewage system running under the shrine, calls in Alex Sector for his knowledge of precious metals, and guards the storm drains. The goddess disappears anyway. Traces of gold in the pipes show that V.E.N.O.M. liquefied the metal and pumped it out, and M.A.S.K. follows a convoy of pedicabs made of solid gold to a freighter at the docks.

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The Golden Goddess of Sarawak weighs 2,000 pounds, sits in a shrine that has been sealed for a year, and is due to be unsealed for its annual ceremony the next morning. Matt Trakker, in Singapore on holiday with Scott, has until then to work out how two other temples were stripped of their gold without a door being opened. It is a locked-room mystery, and the delight of the episode is that the answer sits on a map of the city's old water and sewage system, which a temple official shows him just before leaving the room to take a call from the Prime Minister.

So the thing to say plainly is that this episode is about plumbing. A stolen goddess is the hook, but the story belongs to the pipes underneath her: the abandoned drains, a gas cylinder that lets gold travel as a liquid, the pumps that move it, and the casting equipment that turns it back into metal. We expect a V.E.N.O.M. heist to run on explosives and speed, and this one runs on infrastructure, with clues of the right size for a family cartoon: traces of gold coating the inside of a drain, and a gas cylinder found in a manhole that Scott saw Cliff Dagger climb into.

The writing builds the mystery in patient steps. A prayer to the protector of the forest opens the episode, and the shock of finding the altar gone is played quietly; the sealed room, with a small square vent in its ceiling and ventilation shafts the dialogue rules out as too narrow, is a good set for the puzzle. Singapore is drawn with care, from the golden stepped temple at the end of a wide plaza to the blue marbled wall with its arch and the elephant in a decorated blanket crossing a city street. The computer's choice of Alex Sector, sent because he knows precious metals, is the show's formula put to a sensible use, and the Spectrum mask gets a fresh job, locking onto traces of gold along the pipes.

The standout is the moment the team looks at a line of pedicabs and realizes the drivers are straining awfully hard even though their cabs carry no passengers. The cabs are solid gold, a convoy of million dollar rickshaws crawling toward a freighter, and the joke and the clue arrive together. It rewards anyone who wondered how a villain who has just liquefied a goddess plans to get her out of the country, and it answers in an image rather than in a speech.

Where the episode slips is the last stretch. After the long, patient puzzle, the chase to the docks is routine: a red car crashes through a wooden pier, Rhino's gun barrel swings into frame, and blue motorcycles race along the quay. The heroes' choice at the end is a sensible one, since M.A.S.K. lets the thieves go in order to bring the gold home, but the chase never recovers the surprise that the mystery had.

Scott and T-Bob are told to stay out of the case and drift into it anyway, and their run-in with a decorated street elephant gives the middle of the episode some warmth. The closing safety tip, about headphones, is a reminder to keep an ear on the street.

This is among the best uses of a real city as a puzzle in the run, and the plumbing is a better villain than most of the vehicles. The goddess was only ever the hook; the pipes were the story.

The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the episode's location as Singapore, and records that Vanessa Warfield uses the Piranha sub section during the mission.
The M.A.S.K. wiki says T-Bob recalls that he and Scott nearly got trampled by elephants in Singapore in episode 36, "The Lippizaner Mystery", a later episode number than this one.
The M.A.S.K. wiki records the safety tip as Matt warning Scott not to wear headphones outside, especially while riding a scooter or bike.
The M.A.S.K. wiki's voice cast for this episode lists Doug Stone as Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato and the Head Monk, and Sharon Noble as Vanessa Warfield, the M.A.S.K. Computer, a young man and an old lady.
The M.A.S.K. wiki marks its page for this episode as incomplete, with the plot synopsis forthcoming and the agent and vehicle lists empty.

Matt Trakker

Bruce Sato

Alex Sector

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Stone Buddha's folded hands rest in its draped robe.

The stone Buddha statue gazes forward from its striped halo.

A monkey crouches at the top of a tall arched window above a golden Buddha statue.

A temple guard in a blue tunic raises one hand in alarm.

A tall building facade glows orange and fades, a monk in orange standing in the street.

A blue car and a taxi drive down a street toward a domed mosque.

Scott Trakker rides a bicycle beside T-Bob down a street.

A decorated elephant with a red pavilion on its back stands on a city street.

The decorated elephant raises its trunk beside a tree on the city street.

Matt Trakker checks his wristwatch beside a dark-haired man in a yellow shirt in a car.

A cyclist pulls a rickshaw past a lamp post in front of a grey office building.

Glass office towers rise behind palm trees in a modern city.

A tall office tower fills the frame under a blue sky.

Matt Trakker gestures with a hand as a dark-haired man in a yellow shirt listens in a library.

Matt Trakker speaks with a hand on his chest in front of library shelves.

Matt Trakker and others stand and sit in a high-rise office lined with bookshelves, seen from above.

Matt Trakker looks aside, serious, beside a dark-haired man in a yellow shirt.

A heavy man in a green double-breasted suit spreads his arms in front of a window.

A view across a city rooftop skyline of white high-rises and red-roofed houses.

A heavy man in a green suit looks aside with a stern expression.

A red-haired woman in an orange vest and blue skirt walks away down a hallway holding a folder.

A red-haired woman in an orange vest and blue skirt reaches the end of the hallway.

A dark-haired man in a yellow shirt and blue tie peers around a corner.

A red-haired woman stands at the far end of a long aisle between tall bookshelves.

A tan paper map shows an irregular layout of streets and paths.

A dark-haired man in a yellow shirt looks toward us from a library aisle.

A red-haired woman with glasses stands in a library aisle, a folder in her hand.

A dark-haired man crawls across the floor, books fallen all around him.

A red-haired woman in heels runs up stairs near a sign marked 37.

A red-haired woman in glasses and a blue bow tie holds a pole, her hair blowing.

Three men stand with their backs to us at the end of a library aisle.

Matt Trakker speaks beside a heavy man in a green suit in the library.

Matt Trakker and a dark-haired man in a yellow shirt study papers at a library desk.

Matt Trakker reads a sheet of paper as a dark-haired man in a yellow shirt looks at it.

A handheld computer lies open with a keyboard and colored buttons.

A blue screen shows a line drawing of a bearded man, two face views and a helmet.

Matt Trakker looks down and speaks as the man in a yellow shirt frowns beside him.

A carved stone face glares above two red patterned panels.

Hands hold a purple and white garland wreath with a face at its centre.

Scott Trakker rides T-Bob's wheel in front of a red car and two men.

Scott Trakker pats T-Bob in front of a red car and two standing men.

Scott Trakker clenches his fists and grins beside T-Bob in a garage.

Matt Trakker puts his hands on Scott Trakker's shoulders.

A tan paper map shows streets and circular paths, a hand's edge at the corner.

A red-haired woman and a man with an eyepatch and a maroon beret hold a radio between them.

A mustached man in a visor and green jacket speaks into a radio.

Miles Mayhem holds a radio as an elderly woman in a blue hat watches behind him.

An elderly woman in a blue floppy hat and glasses grimaces in front of a building.

Bald guards in striped tops and loincloths face each other before a patterned door.

A woman in a yellow outfit balances a pot on her head while walking past a grey building.

Matt Trakker looks sideways around a stone corner as a dark-haired man in a vest crouches behind him.

Scott Trakker pulls T-Bob back by his arm outside a grey building.

Scott Trakker pats the top of T-Bob outside a grey building.

T-Bob walks across a street beside wooden crates, one arm stretched out.

An elephant in a decorated blanket stares in through the windshield of a car.

An elephant in a teal blanket steps forward beside a red car.

A figure in a red helmet and blue suit looks down from a rooftop at a bus.

A decorated elephant walks across a street with its trunk hanging low.

A white bus lifts off the ground, spinning yellow rings around it.

T-Bob stretches an arm toward a boy standing on the pavement.

Scott Trakker leans against a decorated elephant beside T-Bob.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob step forward near a drain grate beside a wall.

An elephant in a decorated cap stares toward the camera.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand with their backs to a wall, looking alarmed.

T-Bob's legs poke out of a dented trash can as colored cylinders fall.

Scott Trakker leans back in an alley corner behind an elephant seen from behind.

A truck's front bumper and spotted gun barrel loom over the camera against blue sky.

T-Bob sits among scattered cylinders as Scott Trakker pushes a barrel beside him.

Miles Mayhem frowns as an old man in a hat runs past a building behind him.

Miles Mayhem scowls in a close view with white-gloved collar and gold shoulder braid.

A golden stepped temple sits at the end of a wide plaza with distant skyscrapers.

Matt Trakker walks through pink temple doors with a man in green and a bare-chested man.

A bare-chested man in a purple sarong runs toward an ornate arch on a blue marble wall.

A red-brown marbled temple ceiling meets a blue panel and two stone columns.

Two small figures hide behind stone pillars facing a blue marble wall with a gold arch.

A red marbled ceiling shows a small square vent and an inner corner of a column.

Alex Sector looks aside with a stern expression in a temple room.

Matt Trakker looks to the side in a temple room.

Scott Trakker, T-Bob and a man in a yellow shirt run out through tall decorated temple doors.

A dark-haired man in a yellow shirt and blue tie looks to the side in a temple doorway.

A red sports car speeds along a street past a gabled rooftop, with a truck behind.

Rhino's cab and front bumper fill the frame, its headlights glowing.

A city of tiled rooftops and streets seen from high above.

A view of the city rooftops shown through a goggle-shaped window on a blue background.

Rhino drives down a city street past a tree and a building.

A control panel glows with pink and red buttons beside a screen.

Alex Sector strokes his red beard in thought.

Rhino drives along the street under a tree, the street lined with tall windows.

Rhino parks by a grey wall and an arched entrance on a paved street.

Three masked M.A.S.K. agents stand in front of Rhino and a red car.

A wall of round clocks and a hatch shows many different times.

Alex Sector in a blue hood and visor stands beside an agent in a red helmet.

A round grey machine with many pipes stands on a metal floor.

Alex Sector and an agent in a red helmet look up at a metal wall.

The underside of a vehicle and a huge wheel overshadow a street of warehouses.

A cargo ship sits at a dock beside a heavy anchor chain.

Three tiny figures walk along a high ledge beside a tall grey wall of a warehouse.

An aerial view of a harbor with long piers, small ships and a boat spinning a rotor.

A red car drives toward us on a wooden dock, its headlights lit.

A red car with raised doors, a lightning bolt on each, sits on a wooden pier.

A red car crashes through a wooden pier into the air, splinters flying.

Rhino's cab and gun barrel lean over the frame as the truck moves.

A blue jet skims over the horizon with exhaust trailing behind.

Wooden planks and white spray explode upward as a pier breaks apart.

A rider on a blue motorcycle leaps along the edge of the frame across a grey quay.

A masked figure in a dark helmet with a visor and breathing tube looks up at the sky.

Rhino and a black vehicle stand side by side on the paved dock.

Matt Trakker, Alex Sector and two other men look up together.

Scott Trakker leans in a doorway beside T-Bob and a stone statue of a Buddha's head.

A golden statue's belly and sash fill the frame against blue marble.

Alex Sector, Matt Trakker, Scott Trakker and other men pose beside a golden elephant-headed statue.

Rhino parks in a purple-tinted lot, MASK lettering on its cab.

A stately stone manor with many windows sits beyond a curved driveway.

Scott Trakker wears headphones as T-Bob stands beside him outdoors.

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