M.A.S.K. S1E22

The Secret of Life

Synopsis

The mummy leaps through a broken window while the flashlight lies on the floor.

In Egypt, a professor is deciphering a stone tablet that points to the lost tomb of a king and the golden scarab buried with him, which is said to carry the secret of life. A mummy comes to life in the museum, breaks an inch-thick window and steals the tablet; Matt Trakker's computer traces metallic marks on the glass to V.E.N.O.M. glove armour, and the mummy turns out to be Sly Rax in bandages. V.E.N.O.M. hires a translator, promises him half the fortune and plans to dump him. M.A.S.K. follows the clues to the Great Pyramid and a mound in front of the Sphinx, where Scott and T-Bob fall into the tomb.

Memorable Quotes

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mask.toys Episode Review

The deal is rotten before it is struck. V.E.N.O.M. tells its hired translator that the fortune will be split fifty-fifty, gives its word, and says in the next breath that the man will be dumped as soon as he has finished deciphering the hieroglyphics. The secret of life is the prize in The Secret of Life, and the first thing the episode establishes is that nobody in Venom can be trusted with anything, least of all each other.

The double-cross is the spine, and the ending leans on it. A story about thieves who cannot keep a partner finishes with an inscription that, once the professor has translated it, answers the question the title asks with a single word, love. The episode never points at the connection, and it does not need to.

The writing sets up its search in a tidy chain. The professor has translated enough of the tablet to know it names a king whose golden scarab has the secret of life inscribed on it, and the tablet is stolen before he can finish. The museum had photographed it, so the photograph travels, Matt's computer traces metallic tracks on the glass to Venom's glove armor, and the clue on the pyramid wall that matches the tablet points to a mound in front of the Sphinx. The jokes around it are better than the usual ones: the king's name sets up a wise-guy gag, T-Bob wonders why a nice mummy would steal a tablet, and Bruce, who talks in proverbs, hears the clue read aloud and asks whether anyone thinks he talks strange now.

T-Bob's goop bomb produces the best running gag: it never works right, and he announces that he can hit anything as long as he is not aiming at it. The joke arrives twice, in practice and in the tomb, and the second attempt finally brings some good luck.

The standout is the discovery of the tomb. Scott and T-Bob fall down a hole that T-Bob compares to Alice in Wonderland, and find a sarcophagus. It is the one place where the children find something the adults do not, and it is staged with a patience the rest of the episode lacks.

The weakness is geography. The tablet's clue points to a mound that one of the characters remarks is not far from the digging site, which raises the question of why the professor's team has failed to find the tomb for so long. Nobody explains it. Some explanation of why the mound was overlooked would have helped.

When the professor finishes reading the inscription, someone cheers that they will now learn the king's big secret, and the word that follows is received without argument. It is a gentle answer for a show about vehicles with guns, and it is the better ending for being so unlikely. In this stretch of the first season, The Secret of Life is the one that makes Venom's greed the joke.

Notes of Interest

  1. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the closing safety tip as Matt stopping Scott from climbing into a garbage container to check out some neat junk.
  2. The wiki's page for the Golden Scarab says the scarab was buried with the Egyptian king in his sarcophagus, that the tablet in the museum leads to his lost tomb, and that V.E.N.O.M. hired a criminal to translate it.
  3. According to the wiki, the secret of life inscribed on the scarab turns out to be "love."
  4. The wiki's quotes section records Rashid saying that the world has waited thousands of years to learn the secret of life and can wait one more day.
  5. The wiki's continuity notes point out that when T-Bob says his Goop Bomb never works right, the shot switches to a reverse angle but the rocky background stays the same.
  6. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists the vehicles in the episode as Thunderhawk, Rhino, the M.A.S.K. Transport Plane, Switchblade, Piranha and Manta, with the locations given as Cairo, Egypt.
  7. The wiki's voice cast list credits Doug Stone as Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Abdul and a guard, Mark Halloran as Sly Rax and Professor Hillary, and Graeme McKenna as T-Bob and Rashid.
  8. The wiki's page for Manta says the toy was not part of the first or second wave of toys and only arrived with the racing themed third wave in 1987, with an open roof unlike the animated version.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →

Matt Trakker

Bruce Sato

Alex Sector

Miles Mayhem

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Episode screenshots

A magnifying glass reveals carved markings on a stone tablet.
A magnifying glass reveals carved markings on a stone tablet.
A bespectacled professor studies a stone tablet through a magnifying glass.
The professor looks up from his desk while a man in a blue sleeve stands beside him.
A magnifying glass shows hieroglyph lines carved into a tablet.
The magnifier moves over curved symbols on the stone tablet.
A carved sarcophagus lid shows a serene pharaoh face.
A man in a blue suit stands by the professor, who rests his head on his hand.
The professor looks up in alarm beside the tablet.
The professor looks down with his eyes nearly closed.
A hand rests on a carved stone tablet inside a case with white light streaks.
A hand rests on a carved stone tablet inside a case with white light streaks.
A museum guard walks toward double doors, sweeping a flashlight beam.
The museum guard shines a flashlight with a startled face.
A barred window is set into a night time brick wall.
The guard shields his eyes from a yellow glow with a ring of light.
A bandaged mummy glows green and holds out its hands.
Workers dig and haul logs at a rocky desert dig site.
The professor stands with Matt in a safari jacket at the dig.
Scott in a safari hat gestures beside T-Bob at the dig.
The professor adjusts his glasses beside Matt in front of a pyramid.
The professor stares worriedly in close view, his bow tie in frame.
The professor stares worriedly in close view, his bow tie in frame.
The professor gestures with both hands while Matt stands stiffly beside him.
Scott and T-Bob stand with a man in a blue suit in front of a pyramid.
A man in a blue suit puts a hand on Scott's shoulder as they talk.
Scott looks up as a man in a blue suit watches beside T-Bob.
The professor spreads his arms in a lab with a cracked glass case.
The professor sits at his desk speaking.
Matt rests a hand on his chest next to a vehicle with an open case.
A small stone tablet piece sits in a slot in a console.
A blue line drawing shows a standing man, two heads and a masked helmet.
A blue line drawing shows a standing man, two heads and a masked helmet.
A blue line drawing shows the head and shoulders of a man.
A blue line drawing shows a bald bearded man, two heads and a collared helmet.
A bald red-bearded man holds a striped ball next to a bucket.
A crowded market square is seen from above.
A cloaked figure goes through a wooden door in a brick wall.
Sly Rax wraps bandages around his head in a green robe.
Vanessa Warfield and a V.E.N.O.M. officer stand at a desk with a robed man and a seated man.
Hands hold open a paper showing a drawing of the stone tablet.
A plump man in a yellow cap points while Sly Rax stands behind him.
The heavyset V.E.N.O.M. officer glowers in close view.
The heavyset V.E.N.O.M. officer glowers in close view.
A red truck and a red car sit by a high stone wall outside a city.
Matt reads a paper on a couch while two men sit and stand beside him.
The professor reads a sheet of paper in a chair.
The professor hides his face behind the paper.
Scott and T-Bob stand in a sand pit, with T-Bob holding a spade.
Scott points while leaning on a shovel next to T-Bob.
T-Bob looks worried while lines of purple energy pull at his head.
Scott watches T-Bob dig on a sandy mound.
Tourists and a camel gather at the foot of a big pyramid.
Tourists and a camel gather at the foot of a big pyramid.
Tourists and a camel gather under a yellow umbrella at the pyramid.
A uniformed guard stands in a dark doorway in the pyramid wall.
A masked agent in a blue and red suit is shown from the front, chest first.
A masked agent in red gloves climbs along the pyramid wall.
A blond man in a green shirt and a masked agent move past onlookers by the pyramid.
A maroon truck throws up dust beside the pyramid as a small figure runs.
A camel gallops past a white bus with a figure under its belly.
Tourists in a bus look out in alarm.
Tourists on the bus stare ahead, with a woman gasping in the back.
A maroon truck stops beside a masked agent at the pyramid.
A maroon truck stops beside a masked agent at the pyramid.
A tour bus rises through the air in a swirl of yellow lines near the pyramid rocks.
Tourists inside the bus react as it floats.
Tourists and guides in sun hats gather on the sand.
A red vehicle flies by a palm tree with a figure clinging to the trunk.
Scott and T-Bob dig in a pit with a shovel and a spade.
Scott leans on a shovel next to T-Bob in the sand dunes.
Scott points aside next to T-Bob and a shovel in the sand.
A maroon truck and a red car are parked at the pyramid wall with a dark doorway above.
A bald red-bearded man reads a paper in a hieroglyph-covered chamber.
Hands hold a drawing of the tablet up to a carved wall.
Hands hold a drawing of the tablet up to a carved wall.
Hieroglyphs and carved figures cover a dark stone wall.
A dark helicopter with red panels hovers against the sky.
Three men, one in a cap and one in a robe, stand in a rocky canyon.
Scott reaches toward T-Bob's mouth panel in the dig.
Scott and T-Bob run across a sandy slope.
Scott and T-Bob peek out of the sand with worried looks.
A dark helicopter carries a purple car under it over a sandy slope.
A pilot in a blue helmet and jacket grips the controls of a helicopter.
Two helmeted men sit at a control panel, one with a red beard.
Two helmeted men sit at a control panel, one with a red beard.
Scott and T-Bob stand in a stone passageway as Scott looks to the side.
T-Bob reaches an arm up toward the wall.
A spotlight lights painted figures carrying offerings on a tomb wall.
A spotlight shows a carved chest with a winged scarab beside the tomb wall painting.
Scott reaches toward a scarab chest in the tomb with a light on him.
Scott stands by the tomb wall painting with T-Bob beside him.
Scott smiles while T-Bob stands beside him in the tomb.
Scott talks as T-Bob stands next to him in the tomb.
Scott holds his hands out as he talks in front of the tomb paintings.
Scott and T-Bob run down a long stone corridor.
Scott and T-Bob run down a long stone corridor.
A keypad and a speaker grille are set into T-Bob's body.
Scott looks up in worry while leaning on T-Bob in the sand.
A golden scarab sits on the chest of a decorated sarcophagus.
A scarab sits at the center of a blue striped sarcophagus with crossed staffs.
A dark helicopter with red panels sits on the sand as a figure walks away.
A driver in an orange helmet sits at the wheel of the maroon truck.
The maroon truck drives past a pyramid with dust behind it.
A pilot in a blue uniform and gold visor holds a white-gloved hand to his chest.
The driver in an orange helmet grips the wheel, looking ahead.
The driver in an orange helmet grips the wheel, looking ahead.
A helmeted driver in red and grey looks ahead from a vehicle.
A purple car drives by with dust under it.
A helmeted figure stands beside a red car with its doors raised.
A purple car's rear and a figure in a helmet in the foreground.
A maroon truck drives toward us with a sidecar motorcycle racing beside it.
A blue-uniformed man leans over a purple car door next to the truck and a motorcycle.
The blue-uniformed pilot works at a console in front of a truck.
A person in an orange helmet stands with a hand to his chest by the truck.
A blue-uniformed figure stands next to a purple car with a helmeted driver inside.
A helmeted figure in grey and red leans near the truck.
A helmeted figure in grey and red leans near the truck.
A man in a vest, a bald red-bearded man and a helmeted man stand in the desert.
Matt, Scott, T-Bob, and three men stand around the professor, who signs a paper.
Scott smiles beside T-Bob as Matt rests a hand on him.
Matt, Scott, T-Bob and a dark-haired man in a tie pose for the group.
The professor squints with a smile in close view in front of a world map.
Three men laugh and gesture, with a bald red-bearded man in the middle.
A maroon truck drives past a building with white smoke rising.
A trash container sits in a city lot beside a building.
Matt in a blue jacket stands outdoors next to T-Bob.

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