M.A.S.K. S1E36

The Lippizaner Mystery

A herd of white horses with gold plumes and purple eyes gallops through the arena.

At a special performance in Vienna in honor of an emir, V.E.N.O.M. uses a sonic transmitter pitched too high for human ears to stampede ten Lippizaner stallions, and the horses vanish into a dead-end tunnel. Matt and Dusty find a hidden emergency passage, a tripwire trap and the transmitter, while Scott, told to stay in the hotel, spots Arabian men carrying platinum bars. Mayhem is selling the horses to the Emir of Amrah, who will pay four million to have them delivered to his oil freighter. M.A.S.K. breaks up the exchange and leaves the Emir to explain the stallions to the Austrian police.

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Ten Lippizaner stallions go into a hall in Vienna and, by the end of the opening, none of them is anywhere a person can find. V.E.N.O.M. has played a note too high for human ears, the horses stampede, and when the dust clears the tracks end at a dead-end tunnel. It is a locked-stable mystery with a handsome set piece up front: white horses with gold plumes, a rider in a tricorn hat, a balcony of applauding spectators, and animators who are plainly enjoying drawing a herd galloping straight at the viewer against a red background.

Nobody solves it on purpose. The plot keeps proving it: the people who crack this case are the ones who were supposed to be out of the way. Scott is told to stay in the hotel and keep out of trouble, and it is from the hotel that he spots the buyer's men. The method of the theft is solved by a joke about popcorn. T-Bob complains that he has a million logic circuits and is used as a popcorn box; Scott, handing round the snacks, says he would have put more in the secret compartment; and somebody, hearing the words secret compartment, stops and says there must have been a hidden door. The best clue in the story is a gag at T-Bob's expense!

From there the writing is a tidy piece of deduction, and the tidiness is its charm. Matt calls up the plans of the Great Hall on the M.A.S.K. computer, which obligingly produces a renovation that added an emergency passage wide enough for an emperor's carriage and its team, which is to say wide enough for ten horses. Dusty is stopped just short of a tripwire that would have brought the ceiling down, and the transmitter turns up in the passage, a variable-frequency device pitched too high for human ears. The sound is the weapon, but the episode lets it stay invisible, a decent way to make a mystery out of an absence.

The voice work runs on Dusty's folksy stampede-stopping, a line about not having had so much fun since the hogs ate somebody's uncle, and on Mayhem's business sense. When the buyer comes to collect, Mayhem tells him the price has gone up: the first million was only for stealing the horses, and delivering them to the dock will cost four million more, in platinum bars. It is the best exchange V.E.N.O.M. has in the episode, a negotiation conducted with total calm in which the price simply goes up.

The standout is the barn. A masked agent peers through a window past a haystack, a gang member waits with a pole, and a truck with horses inside drives straight through the wooden wall in a spray of splinters while the agent slides across a tilted floor. It is a proper old-fashioned action scene, built from simple parts, and the contrast with the hotel-room comedy around it is what makes it land.

The buyer is where the episode sags. The Emir arrives by helicopter in robes and sunglasses with an entourage, holding curved blades, remarks that one does not quibble over the price of perfection and pays in platinum; he stays flat while Mayhem, across from him, gets a real scene. The second half has a related problem. Once the horses are found they become cargo, passed through a trailer, a hangar, an oil freighter and a hovercraft on a harbor at night, and the animals that gave the episode its glamour are reduced to standing in people's way.

The Lippizaner Mystery hands the detective work to Scott and T-Bob, and the best scene to Mayhem. The popcorn is the best of it, the hotel is where it is solved, and the ending, in which the Emir is left to explain a ship full of stallions to the Austrian police, has just enough justice in it to send us home content.

The M.A.S.K. wiki says T-Bob recalls being nearly trampled by elephants in Singapore and taking skydiving lessons off the Eiffel Tower without a parachute, and marks these as references to episodes 16 and 34.
According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, when Matt asks the Computer to pick a team, Gloria Baker and Buddy Hawks are shown in their civilian lives with no voice-over from the Computer, and Buddy appears in action near the end without an assigned vehicle.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a goof in the epilogue in the wrecked hotel room, where Dusty Hayes speaks in Buddy Hawks's voice.
The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Doug Stone as Matt Trakker, Dusty Hayes and the Emir of Amrah, Mark Halloran as Buddy Hawks, Sly Rax and Cliff Dagger, and Graeme McKenna as T-Bob and Room Service.
The fan site maskforce.com lists Switchblade as destroyed in this episode and the Sonic Transmitter as the V.E.N.O.M. tech used in it.
The M.A.S.K. wiki records the safety tip as Dusty advising Scott to let a horse know where you are when you walk around one, a lesson T-Bob learns the hard way.

Matt Trakker

Dusty Hayes

Gloria Baker

Buddie Hawks

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

A white Lippizaner rears up in the arena beside a rider in a tricorn hat.

Spectators in the balcony applaud, a blond boy and a woman in orange among them.

Three men in robes and headdresses sit behind a window in the hall wall.

Matt Trakker sits with arms crossed in the stands beside Scott Trakker and T-Bob.

Matt Trakker sits with arms crossed among the audience while Scott Trakker points ahead.

Two white horses with gold plumes step in unison inside the arena.

A rider in a tricorn hat and maroon uniform sits on a white Lippizaner with a gold plume.

Horses rear and tumble in the arena, a woman on the ground at the bottom of the frame.

A white horse with a gold plume charges toward us as riders fall behind it.

White horses stampede toward us against a red background.

A man in a magenta shirt rides a white horse with a gold plume across the arena.

T-Bob crouches next to a woman on the ground as Matt Trakker kneels beside them.

Matt Trakker leans forward, looking out through the bars of a barrier, a man in magenta behind him.

A bronze statue of a rider on a rearing horse stands before a stone building.

Matt Trakker faces three men in white desert robes and headdresses, two wearing sunglasses.

A bearded man in a white headdress, flanked by two men in sunglasses, speaks to Matt Trakker.

Matt Trakker drives a red car with a brown-haired man beside him in magenta.

Scott Trakker folds his arms beside T-Bob, looking aside at the sky.

A man in a magenta shirt looks around from the front seat of a car.

A blueprint of a long building with rooms shows on a blue screen.

A blueprint of a building adds a pink outlined passage running off one end on a blue screen.

A blueprint zooms in on part of a plan, with a pink-outlined ramp on a blue screen.

Scott Trakker rests his chin on T-Bob's head while Matt Trakker points forward.

Scott Trakker lies back with hands behind his head atop T-Bob as Matt Trakker looks on.

Scott Trakker holds out a hand with eyes closed beside T-Bob inside a car.

Matt Trakker and a brown-haired agent in a red vest walk through a tunnel past a red car.

Matt Trakker looks aside and speaks, his shoulder armor visible.

Matt Trakker leans in with a worried look in a close view.

An agent in a red vest with an air hose pack walks away down a dim tunnel.

Matt Trakker looks straight ahead with a faint smile inside a tunnel.

A red-gloved hand reaches out over a dark blue rocky or watery surface.

Matt Trakker leans forward with a frown, a man in a red vest standing behind him.

Matt Trakker turns his head left as a man in a red vest stands beside him.

Two white panels show red line drawings of a figure and a control box.

Miles Mayhem smiles with a grin in front of a snowy mountain.

Miles Mayhem frowns toward a henchman in sunglasses crouching on a hillside path.

Miles Mayhem stands outside a window seen past the shoulders of two white horses.

Miles Mayhem and a man in a dark jacket stand outside the window between two white horses.

A man in white robes steps out of a blue and red helicopter onto a meadow.

A man in tan robes and sunglasses holds a closed blue case, a man in white behind him.

A man in tan robes and sunglasses holds open a briefcase full of silver bars.

Miles Mayhem scowls at the camera in front of mountains.

A man in tan robes and sunglasses grips a curved dagger and points.

Three men in robes stand together, one holding a long knife point down.

Three men in robes stand together, the nearest with arms crossed.

A red jeep drives across a meadow toward a wooden barn at the foot of a mountain.

A masked driver in a red helmet sits in a red car with a lightning bolt.

A man in a visor and green jacket holds a wooden pole inside a barn.

A masked agent in red and grey peeks through a barn window beyond a haystack.

Two white horses stand in a horse trailer in a barn.

A masked agent in a red helmet leans over a man in a visor sitting on hay.

Miles Mayhem sits in a blue mask at an aircraft control panel with a glass-like control wheel.

A masked agent in red pushes open a red truck door as wood splinters.

A masked man in a green jacket crouches in front of three white horses.

A masked agent in red and grey lies beside two barrels in a barn corner.

A masked agent in red and grey steps from a barn door while a white horse stands behind.

A masked agent in red and grey lies spread-eagled on a tilted grey truck floor.

A truck drives through a wooden barn wall, smashing it into splinters.

A masked agent lies on a tilted grey truck floor as hay slides across it.

A close view of a masked agent's red-visored helmet and red collar on a grey surface.

A diamond-patterned metal panel sits on a tilted frame.

A red object lies among thick evergreen branches.

A masked agent in a red helmet crouches close to the camera, mountains behind.

A multi-story brick-and-glass office building stands under a blue sky.

Scott Trakker looks worried beside T-Bob, whose eyes have red pupils.

Scott Trakker looks at T-Bob, who has an opened device on his chest.

Scott Trakker pushes a cassette into a compartment on T-Bob's chest.

A blue shape is hit by pink sparks as wooden splinters fly.

A plain gold wooden door fills the frame.

A man in robes and T-Bob lie on the floor near an open case.

Scott Trakker stands in a hallway, a man in robes on the floor near an open case.

Scott Trakker frowns with a worried look as a man in a white headdress leans into the frame.

A hand holds a cracked photograph of a rider on a white horse.

A man in a red sweater and Matt Trakker smile in a car.

Scott Trakker looks down at a monitor with a worried face as pink light streaks cross the wall.

A hand holds a cracked photograph of a rider on a white horse.

A bearded man in a white headdress sits looking sideways with a tall man in tan behind him.

A smiling brown-haired man in a red vest sits next to Matt Trakker.

Scott Trakker squeezes his eyes shut and waves with a spread hand toward a window.

A dentist in a white coat and mask stands by a patient reclining in a chair.

A dentist in a white coat leans toward a tray beside a reclined patient in a dental chair.

A masked dentist with white hair holds a pick, wearing glasses.

A man in a flat cap and tan jacket smiles and waves in front of a store.

A woman in a pink dress holds a bouquet of red flowers outside a hardware store.

A foggy blue harbor at night shows cranes and a dark ship's hull.

A yellow truck faces us in a dark warehouse as two henchmen walk in from the sides.

Men in robes stand before a truck loaded with white horses in a large hangar.

Three men in robes and headdresses, two with sunglasses, stand in a hangar.

A man in tan robes kneels at a case while two men in robes stand behind him.

Miles Mayhem stands in a blue uniform with gold cord, masks hanging behind him.

A man in a dark mask with a breathing tube turns away from a man in tan robes.

A bearded man in a white headdress looks worried beside a man in tan robes and sunglasses.

Three men in robes stand together, a hand resting on the bearded man's shoulder.

Miles Mayhem stands between a hooded masked man and a figure in a blue helmet.

A masked figure surrounded by electric sparks fires a blue beam in a hangar.

A man in a white headdress clenches a fist beside a man in tan robes and sunglasses.

A man in a tan robe and sunglasses holds two curved swords.

Miles Mayhem in a blue mask and a red-masked figure stand in a hangar.

A yellow flatbed truck carries horses through green rings of light.

A yellow flatbed truck loaded with white horses drives in a hangar.

Three white horses stand close together with their rumps to us in a hangar.

A masked figure in a blue visor with breathing tubes wears a red vest.

A red car with raised doors and lightning bolts speeds through a dark blue scene.

A masked driver in a red helmet grips the wheel of a car, belted in.

Water sprays upward in sharp waves against a dark blue background.

Miles Mayhem, soaked and frowning, holds a wet paper under blue water.

Henchmen and a red-haired woman tumble into the water at the edge of a dock.

A yellow and white hovercraft floats in the harbor as masked agents stand on the dock behind it.

Three men in robes with ropes around their middles stand beside a masked agent in a red vest.

A multi-story hotel glows with lit windows at night beside a parked red car.

T-Bob crashes through a cracked wall into a room.

Scott Trakker hugs T-Bob in front of a big hole in the cracked wall.

Matt Trakker waves toward Scott Trakker, who is crouched with T-Bob near a hole in the wall.

A hotel at night shows lit windows and a spotlight on the steps, a red car parked outside.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand beside a white Lippizaner and a man in magenta.

T-Bob stands in the lower left while a white horse's mane and hindquarters sweep across the frame.

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