M.A.S.K. S1E64

The Manakara Giant

Synopsis

The group and islanders walk toward a hole torn in a rusted ship's hull on the beach.

A freighter loaded with platinum ends up wrecked on a beach, and the islanders of Manakara blame a legendary giant. The ship's owner asks Matt Trakker for help before an even larger platinum shipment sails through the same strait. Matt, Gloria, Scott and T-Bob find huge footprints with no detail in them, sea turtles laying eggs on the island for the first time, and a strange pull that drags T-Bob along the sea floor. The giant turns out to be a V.E.N.O.M. magnetic machine with loudspeakers hidden in the jungle, and M.A.S.K. brings in the team to stop it.

Memorable Quotes

We know everything but Manakara's shoe size.

It's Manakara's foot all right. Too bad it's not in Mayhem's mouth.

mask.toys Episode Review

A giant that nobody has ever seen is a gift to a cartoon, and The Manakara Giant takes the gift without apology: the monster exists only as a legend and a set of footprints, and the episode is built around the question of where each of those comes from. A freighter carrying platinum has been left on a beach, the pilot and the islanders say the giant is behind it, and the ship's owner takes his troubles to Matt Trakker because an even bigger platinum shipment has to pass through the same strait.

What the episode is really about, once the Trakkers arrive, is evidence. The chief who greets them says that no one has ever seen Manakara, and Matt asks how anyone knows the giant did it at all. The footprints are the second clue: when the computer works through them, they turn out to have no details on them, like real prints, so somebody is faking the giant's feet. The sea turtles that come to the island for the first time on the very night the ship goes aground are the third, and Gloria is quick to say the coincidence is strange. Every scene after that serves the same point, which is that a monster story is a set of claims that can be checked, and this one fails the check in three places.

That structure gives each regular a job. Scott and T-Bob get the comic beach patrol, hunting for shells and being told to go back to bed while the grown-ups work, and T-Bob's trouble pays off in the plot, because the pull that drags him along the bottom of the sea is the first physical sign of the magnet and his homing signal gives Matt and Gloria something to follow. Gloria gets the jokes about the giant's shoe size, which are the sort of patter the series always supplies in a mystery, pleasant and easy.

The animation leans on what it can draw cheaply and clearly. The captions of the published frames show loudspeakers set high in a palm tree on a scaffold tower, and the magnetic force is drawn as coils and rings of pink and purple light, a graphic language that is easy to read from across a room and easy to cut between.

The best stretch is the search for T-Bob. Matt calls for amphibious mode, Shark skims out across the water, and the instruments go wild while V.E.N.O.M.'s machine runs, then return to normal once it is shut off, which lets Matt tie whatever pulled the robot to the thing that disturbed the instruments. It is a small piece of deduction played out in a vehicle, and it is more satisfying than the confrontation that follows.

That confrontation is the weakness. V.E.N.O.M.'s plan reaches the audience in a few lines of dialogue about the next platinum shipment, and the scheme is never staged with any weight, so the climax of a magnet fought with a magnet, using a magnetic barrier over a ship, comes across as a technical fix and not as an escape from danger. This is a villainy of rigged props and loudspeakers, not of real menace.

The closing safety tip, a fire drill at the mansion, is a tidy bit of housekeeping, and the episode earns it. As a mystery it sits near the lighter end of the first season, a quiet, clue-led caper that is pleasantly sure of itself, and according to maskforce.com it is the last episode to feature Shark, which makes the long underwater search a fitting farewell for the car.

Notes of Interest

  1. The M.A.S.K. wiki's page for this episode says Matt and Gloria take Shark along on their investigation and that Bruce Sato later arrives with Thunderhawk.
  2. The M.A.S.K. wiki's Shark page describes it as a Porsche 928 that transforms into an attack submarine, driven by Gloria Baker, and lists this episode last among its appearances; maskforce.com states that this is the last episode to feature Shark.
  3. The M.A.S.K. wiki observes that there is no agent call-up sequence in this episode; it cuts straight from Matt calling in the team to the Transport Jet.
  4. The M.A.S.K. wiki points out that two projectors from Gate of Darkness are reused on the Transport Jet here to make a magnetic barrier over a ship.
  5. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a continuity error at about 16:45: Sly Rax grabs a handle of the V.E.N.O.M. magnetic machine bare-handed, but is wearing his black glove when he pulls it.
  6. The M.A.S.K. wiki's Safety Tip for this episode has Matt run a fire drill at the mansion and advise Scott and T-Bob to plan a fire escape route in advance and keep a rope or chain ladder handy on the second floor.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →

Matt Trakker

Bruce Sato

Calhoun Burns

Gloria Baker

Miles Mayhem

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Episode screenshots

Crew crowd the ship's bridge windows as the captain points.
Crew crowd the ship's bridge windows as the captain points.
A young crewman salutes the captain in a white cap.
The captain shouts orders on the bridge.
The captain stares wide-eyed in alarm.
The captain and crew crowd at the deck rail, frightened.
The captain and a crewman stare ahead in alarm.
Crew lower an orange lifeboat down the ship's side.
Crew members scramble toward the lifeboat in a fading overlay.
The captain floats in the sea as a lifeboat of survivors sits behind him.
A man in glasses rubs his head in a car beside a driver in a blue cap.
A man in glasses rubs his head in a car beside a driver in a blue cap.
The man in glasses scratches his head and looks worried.
The man in glasses lifts a hand to the roof and turns to the driver.
The man in glasses stares ahead in alarm.
The man in glasses and his driver sit in the car.
The man in glasses speaks while seated in a green armchair.
The man in glasses talks in front of a bookshelf.
Scott talks excitedly beside T-Bob as Gloria stands behind them.
Matt sits at his desk with hands clasped.
Scott sits listening beside T-Bob as Gloria stands behind.
A man in glasses gestures toward Matt across the desk.
A man in glasses gestures toward Matt across the desk.
From above, a man in glasses speaks to Matt at the desk as Gloria, Scott and T-Bob wait.
Scott walks toward the desk while Gloria watches and T-Bob waits.
Gloria leans toward T-Bob with a frown.
Gloria drives with Matt beside her and Scott and T-Bob in back.
Gloria drives while Matt looks ahead beside her.
Matt and Gloria ride in a white car past palm trees.
Islanders kneel on the sand, one holding a basket of fruit.
Scott stands beside the white car's open door with T-Bob.
Matt and Gloria stand among islanders, one holding a fruit basket.
Matt and Gloria stand among islanders, one holding a fruit basket.
A chief in a feathered headdress holds out a banana to Matt.
The chief stares ahead under his feathered headdress.
Matt, Scott, Gloria and T-Bob stand together under palm trees.
Matt and Gloria stand in front of the chief and other islanders.
Matt and Gloria turn toward the chief with serious faces.
Matt and Gloria stand with hands on hips beneath palm trees.
Scott gives a thumbs-up beside T-Bob near the ship's hull.
T-Bob rolls toward the ship's open hull with Scott beside him.
T-Bob tips on his side on the sand and looks up.
Scott stands with hands on hips beside T-Bob, who lies next to a shell.
Scott stands with hands on hips beside T-Bob, who lies next to a shell.
A small purple hermit crab peers out of a spiral shell.
T-Bob holds a shell to the side of his head.
Scott holds up a shell on the beach as T-Bob sits nearby.
Scott stands with arms spread beside T-Bob.
The sun sets between palm trees over the sea.
Shark sits parked outside a wooden house at night.
Matt works at a keyboard while Gloria watches.
Gloria and Matt look worriedly at a screen.
Scott looks off worriedly beside T-Bob at a curtained doorway.
Scott looks off worriedly beside T-Bob at a curtained doorway.
Scott and T-Bob stand in the sea before a rocky island.
Water sprays up around T-Bob.
Scott wades through the shallows past a row of dark domes.
T-Bob thrashes in the water as Scott swims behind him.
T-Bob thrashes in the water with his arms flung out.
T-Bob splashes in the water with his eyes squeezed.
Scott reaches out and gasps as he swims.
T-Bob's wide yellow eyes peer out from under his dome.
Scott looks up with a serious face.
A masked pilot in a blue and orange helmet grips two joysticks.
A masked pilot in a blue and orange helmet grips two joysticks.
Matt holds a paper beside a keyboard as Gloria looks on.
Scott runs down the path from the beach toward the house.
Gloria and Matt wait indoors with serious faces.
Matt, Scott and Gloria ride in the white car.
Shark's front wheel and headlight sit at the water's edge.
Matt, Scott and Gloria appear behind a grid overlay.
Shark skims across the water, leaving a white wake.
Matt talks while Scott looks off to the side.
Matt, Scott and Gloria look ahead in profile from the car.
Hands grip the steering wheel above two teal gauges.
Hands grip the steering wheel above two teal gauges.
A palm trunk and fronds stand against a dark night jungle.
A man in a blue uniform holds a small white device in gloved hands.
A large grey cannon fires pink coiled rings as a figure in blue watches.
Two cannon barrels send pink rings from a red lens.
A man in sunglasses crawls out of a wrecked red and blue craft on the sand.
Hands grip the steering wheel above two teal gauges.
A red dot glows on a blue grid screen.
Matt, Gloria and Scott ride in the white car.
T-Bob winks one yellow eye as a hand rests under his dome.
T-Bob winks one yellow eye as a hand rests under his dome.
Scott puts a hand on T-Bob on the night beach.
Scott looks up alarmed as the others stand around him.
Matt gestures toward Scott, T-Bob and Gloria on the beach.
Matt rests his hands on Scott and T-Bob as Gloria watches.
Matt looks at Gloria with a stern face.
Matt and Gloria peer around a palm trunk.
Gloria and Matt stop on the sand and look ahead.
Loudspeakers sit high in a palm tree on a scaffold tower.
Matt and Gloria sit in the white vehicle with its yellow wing panels raised.
The captain steers the ship while another officer scans with binoculars.
The captain steers the ship while another officer scans with binoculars.
Scott sits on a brown dome in the water beside T-Bob.
Scott leans against T-Bob while sitting on a brown dome in the sea.
Scott looks up at the sky with wide eyes.
Miles Mayhem holds binoculars beside Vanessa Warfield.
The captain grips the wheel and shouts as another officer stands behind him.
Two masked agents sit in a cockpit beneath a yellow wing panel.
Bubbles drift in a round view of dark water.
A dark blue jet hovers over a cargo ship with two spotlight beams.
Vanessa Warfield and Miles Mayhem stand at the controls as a masked man sits behind glass.
Vanessa Warfield and Miles Mayhem stand at the controls as a masked man sits behind glass.
Shark skims the water with a masked figure on its roof as a red car's wing appears.
Shark leaves a wake as a red car with a lightning bolt rises at right.
A masked agent in white pushes against a red car under a pink beam.
A masked agent in white climbs into a car in a fading overlay.
Scott sits on a dome in the water beside T-Bob.
Scott spreads his hands beside T-Bob on the dome.
A masked driver in a yellow helmet grips the steering wheel.
A red car with raised doors takes a pink beam from a distant jet.
A masked agent sits strapped into a car seat as pink light flashes.
Scott sits in a yellow seat and looks ahead.
Scott sits in a yellow seat and looks ahead.
Two masked agents watch a jet and a bubbled ship in the sky from a cab.
Scott points at a control panel as sparks flicker below him.
Concentric purple rings pulse over a jungle around a vehicle.
A cargo ship sails across a blue sea.
Matt, Gloria, Bruce and another man stand together under palm trees.
Scott leans toward T-Bob and talks to him.
A black SUV and a blue motorcycle sit on pink sand.
A large mansion with a pool and tennis court sits among green hills.
Matt holds a folded metal frame as Scott and T-Bob watch.

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