The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Stop Motion, and The Artemis Enigma Review

Welcome to mass mayhem. This is episode 17. I

am one of your hosts TFJ on Mike joining me is

to master to Hello, Mike. Good to be back again

this week. That's right What's going on with

you? We've just been so busy Doing lots of yard

work. My wife bought some plants recently. So

we spent basically the morning yesterday planning

those in the backyard after taking what we planted

just a few months ago out and turning the soil

over, putting down some more topsoil and stuff.

It was just a lot of work. I don't see how anything

can grow in this godforsaken heat. Oh my god.

Yeah, it is so humid today. I'm staying inside.

I'm not going out there. Yeah, it's just so humid

here. Yeah, if I didn't have to take the dog

out, I'd be inside all day long. Yeah, I just

wish it would rain already and cool off a little

bit. Yeah, really. We need a week. A week of

thunderstorms. That's what I want. Anyway, a

little background on episode 17. During the two

-year hiatus, I had at one point, I was like,

okay, I'm just gonna watch all of these episodes

in one block and then, you know, financial matters

hit and I had to get rid of the DVD sets. So

I had already watched. Granted, this was about

a year and a half ago. I had watched the episodes

that are in episodes 17, 18, 19, and 20 of the

podcast. So I already have... I didn't have to

grab any clips this time. All the audio's already

done. So that, you know, and all my notes were

done. But when I was going back on some of the

ones for today, I found myself noticing stuff

that I didn't on the initial watch through. I

mean, I was actively taking notes then. This

time around I was kind of watching it again to

see if my notes were still accurate. They are,

but there are also more of them now. Well, that's

good. It gives us more things to say about the

episodes. Yeah, there's that. Because sometimes

it is hard to find a lot to talk about. Well,

it's hard to find good things to talk about this

show because it's just not good. Um, I do want

to, uh, I do want to give a shout out, uh, from

Twitter to, I'm trying to see where this conversation

started. Um, uh, from, uh, Duff's man or Duff

Sam 1981 on Twitter, uh, Colin Duff. He says,

uh... attitude you might add agents of mass t

bob is great the hero of mass key always saves

the day uh... and so he and i had a conversation

back -and -forth back -and -forth of course my

defense is t about the source character in the

eighties whatever and he says you deluded fool

t bob is awesome and the real star of the show

uh... now this other organization i believe they're

podcast i believe they're trying to get like

a fan -made mask movie done, Agents of Mask.

They reply to us saying, T -Bob and Scott, the

episodes where T -Bob and Scott actually help

the mission in their own way are the best. Very

few, though. So that was interesting. Now that

the show's kind of back, I can kind of start

arguing with people over how horrible these two

characters are. I really do think at one point

I'm gonna do a Tooncast Beyond, either Tooncast

Beyond or Geekcast Radio countdown the top 10

worst 80s cartoon kids and sidekicks because

I can already tell you T -Bob and Scott are gonna

be my number one. Yeah, I can see that. Alright,

so we're gonna get into the episodes today after

this. Let's see if we can learn why anyone would

steal that skull. Mass computer, present available

data on the crystal skull. Discovered during

archaeological dig in Central America, possible

artifacts of ancient Mayan Indians. Those Mayans

were really smart, really knew how to put their

heads together. Some legends claim that anyone

who looks through the eyes of the skull can see

through solid objects. Alright, first up today

is the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring

Shia - Oh wait, no, this is the 80s. I'm sorry.

I'll say this though, Eyes of the Skull, a hell

of a lot better than Indiana Jones 4. Well, I

don't know. Come on now. Alright, so the description,

Venom leader Miles Mayhem uses an - Ancient crystal

skull which allows x -ray vision to see through

Matt trackers mask and discover his identity

may him then kidnap Scott tracker for ransom

dun dun dun My platen notes finally, California.

We finally have some stateside stuff. Oh damn

time that won't last long though I honestly Can't

help but feel that this should have been the

final episode of the season or the series Granted

it has the whole destroy it and things return

to normal But still it really felt like once

once miles figured out that Matt tracker was

the leader of mask And that's one thing I've

never really gotten about this series. How is

it that? Matt knows who miles is and I know that

there's some other continuity or some other prequel

thing that's out there that stated that they

were, you know, they worked together at some

point or another. And I think it might have said

that in the first episode of the cartoon series,

but it's always bugged me that Matt knows who

Miles is, but Miles never finds out who Matt

is. Yeah, that's interesting. I had not heard

that before. What were your thoughts on the plot,

sir? Well, like you said, I really thought it

was cool that they used the skull in that manner

to find out the identity of the mask members

so that that leads them to kidnap Scott. So,

yeah, I thought that was an interesting dynamic

they added to this one. Of course, there was

an auction in the beginning of the episode to

auction off the crystal skull, and they're really

not auctioning off for that much money, are they?

And it starts off like... around 60 or 70 thousand

I didn't write down the amount exactly but it

didn't seem like that much and T Bob was raising

his hand kind of fighting with Scott so yeah

it ended up being a hundred and ten thousand

dollars because T Bob was being stupid as usual

and you know Scott even told him at one point

put your hand down they're thinking you're bidding

he didn't say that and that that's so many words

but he did tell him to put his hand down and

it just it ended up being a hundred and ten thousand

dollars i believe okay yeah before it disappeared

it didn't seem like much given that this was

you know ancient priceless artifact with this

great power it may not be like you know today's

standards that you know this something like this

might go for five ten fifteen million dollars

but hundred ten thousand dollars in the eighties

seems like it was a lot more than than it is

now yeah well that's true uh... anything else

on the plot No, we had several puns, of course,

you know since they're at an auction T Bob says

something like I'll just bid you farewell I mean

the writers are trying very hard to squeeze in

some puns here, you know There are head puns

because we're dealing with the skull because

the skull is crystal. There are some glass puns

They're just scattered throughout and it's they're

just cringe -worthy Yes, yes, they are like most

of this series is All right, let's turn on the

high beams after this So for the high beams now

I don't necessarily reflect my score on what

on how many high beams I write down versus how

many low beams I write down. But sometimes it

is more than the others. Sometimes there's more

high beams than low beams. Sometimes there's

more low beams than high beams. And usually I'll

kind of bottleneck the score around that. I was

really surprised going back looking at my notes

and even as I watched this of how many other

high beams I wrote down as I rewatched it to

be fresh for this recording. um... uh... so first

first one mysterious crystal skull up and vanishes

it just poof it's gone uh... as much as i hate

the character i did find t -bobs i guess i really

fell for that pun i found that kind of funny

uh... it only took forty episodes but mayhem

finally knows that matt tracker is leader of

mask Yeah, that was an interesting twist I I

didn't know what power the skull was going to

have and so when he was able to see the identity

of Matt and then he also He also saw Bruce under

the mask, but he didn't know who it was. Yeah,

he saw Bruce, but he didn't know who it was Yeah,

but he knew it was Matt Tracker I guess because

Matt is so renowned and well -known and you know,

he has this anti -million dollar Who knows what

a business or something. So he's well known throughout

the globe I would say Matt Tracker is I know

a lot of people are going to either scream shout

or drop or throw their iPhones iPads iPods whatever

when I say this but I would say Matt Tracker

is the Iron Man of the 80s or is the Iron Man

of Of this cartoon. He is the Tony Stark because

he's really a full philanthropist more than anything

else he doesn't really it's never really said

how he's amassed this fortune if it was something

that was passed down to his father or from his

father I should say but I mean he donates a lot

to charity he's in every piece of the pie on

the entire globe uh... so i would say he's more

into philanthropy than anything else so i don't

think he really has an actual job other than

being the leader of mask yeah i i don't i think

that's a good way to look at it uh... i don't

think uh... People are gonna come after you with

pitchforks and torches over that comment The

Tony Stark the Iron Man aspect considering, you

know Tony's rich and yeah, I can see Tony's a

drunk even even even though Matt's not a drunk,

but yeah, right I can I can see you drawing those

similarities I thought you were gonna say that

Bruce Wayne, but he probably has more similarities

with some a character like Iron Man Yeah, well,

because the other thing is, these are more jumpsuits

or these really aren't bat -like costumes or

bird -like costumes. Tony just kind of felt a

little bit easier to compare. Finally a line

that Matt says that I can actually laugh at hey

guys. I'm just hanging around down here Yeah,

that was pretty funny and then the I Sometimes

I'll write the PSA is down in either the good

or the bad moments. It just depends I wrote it

down in the good moment because I was I wasn't

raised in the era of, oh my god, you better not

snitch on me or I'll shoot you or I'll be...

This whole thing of people think that other people

are snitching on them. I wasn't raised in that

era. I was raised to the point where if something

bad is happening, you call somebody and let somebody

know, whether that be the police, whether it

be the fire department, whether it be an ambulance,

whether it be your parents, whoever it is. You

know... If you see something that doesn't seem

right to you going on, you call somebody, you

call an adult. Um, so I kind of enjoyed the PSA

for, you know, you better call the police. Yeah,

I did too. That was okay. I, I like that. Um,

the one line I had issue with was even if you're

not sure anyone is doing anything wrong, it doesn't

hurt to call. Um, I know what they were going

for, but it. Came off sounding like it was delivering

a message that you know, it was maybe going to

it wasn't coming off as They intended perhaps

You know, maybe I know what they're saying is

that if you suspect there's Something wrong or

foul play or some sort of emergency call the

police But just calling in for everything. I

think you do need to be somewhat cautious about

that. Oh, yeah, no and see I read it more so

like Um, like there are times where I've had

to call the police because my neighbors are being

too damn loud, you know, at night. And it's like,

I'm not going to sit here and have my blinds

open at 11 o 'clock at night because I wouldn't

be able to see what the hell they're doing anyway.

But if I can hear people screaming at the top

of their lungs and arguing for 45 minutes and

it's disturbing my peace in my apartment, you

damn right I'm going to call the police. Yeah.

Um, you know, so I kind of got what they were

going for, but I see what you mean as well. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think that what, what you're saying

is that's exactly what they, what they intended.

And I think that's how most people would interpret

it. Oh yeah. Absolutely. What, uh, what else

did you like about this one? Rax. Uh, he was

funny in this one, his line can't lose the little

garbage can as T Bob was chasing him down the

street. So I thought that was really funny. And

I also like the ending where T -Bob falls and

he falls right into Alcatraz prison. Yeah, that

was pretty funny. Because that's where they wanted

to go. I guess he and Scott wanted to see Alcatraz.

No, Scott didn't want to see Alcatraz. T -Bob

wanted to see Alcatraz. Okay, so he gets to see

it. Yeah, except he gets imprisoned in it. Anything

else for high beams? Nothing for high beams,

so let's move on to low beams. Alright, here

we go. Alright, I actually only have two. I'm

surprised that I only have two, even after watching

it again. I only have two. Now, this was... This

is because mayhem puts the skull on and sees

the numbers from where? When dagger open the

vault there were no numbers to read anywhere

Like I think that was the keypad the keypad like

there were no numbers on that keypad at all I

feel like I'm an Alcatraz. I don't get to do

anything quits your whining Scott he knows nothing

about what it's like to be in jail or real or

a real life for it like oh my god I want to that

kid needs a good belting that's what he does

I mean he's he's just there to get into trouble

what about you for low beams I only had a couple

as well I've already mentioned the puns that

was one of them but T -Bob is not going to be

able to outmaneuver and keep up with Rex's bike.

No, not at all. And I wish that they had been

a little more creative with regards to how they

recovered the skull. It was kind of cool that

they were meeting Venom on the bridge to make

the exchange. I kept wondering, OK, well, how

are they going to do this? And the way they were

supposed to destroy the skull was for it to see

its own reflection. So I was kind of wondering,

OK, well, how are they going to? That as well,

but basically T Bob just extends his arms out

and takes it for miles That was kind of a cheap

way to get out of that Well, yeah, but the whole

point of that was hey, let's play football with

it Yes, they they do end up playing like a two

-hand touch version of football Trying to get

the trying to get the skull away from each other

and then Matt as he's holding on to it You know

somehow T Bob can shine his mirror up at a weird

angle of where Matt is and the skull sees itself

and and Kablui I think it's very convenient for

the plot that if the skull destroys itself it

also erases the memory of whoever used it see

I think they did that wrong as far as like I

thought you had to not necessarily that I want

the skull to blow up in Miles Mayhem's hands

but when he's actually holding it, but I thought

the way that they had explained it was that the

person, whoever had seen through it, their memory

would be erased, but I thought it was more so

that they had to have the skull in hand than

it just blowing up on a random street. I don't

know. wish they had done something a little different

that too because yeah at the at the end when

it does explode they're basically standing on

the bridge going hey how do we end up here where

are we and then they just decide to take off

you know all right so for me in this one i'm

going to give it a three out of five i i cannot

stand scott and his constant It wasn't T Bob

was actually funny this time I will say this

is one the probably one of if the only episode

I don't know that I actually didn't find T Bob

too annoying But Scott was just oh my god whiny

little bitch in this I'm gonna give this three

masks out of five Because there were too many

puns there were There was that moment with Scott

But other than that I did you know, it's a it's

a middle -of -the -road episode. The plot was

fairly decent It was executed fairly good. Well

and all that. What about you for this one? I

too enjoyed this one I Could have given it a

higher rating had they done a little more at

the end with the skull as it was it still wasn't

a bad episode it was entertaining and I Feel

it's deserving of a three. So three masks Alright,

we are gonna move on to the next episode after

this. Sorry, T -Bob. EMP means electromagnetic

pulse. Oh, I know all about pulses. Mine's been

racing all afternoon. Not that kind of pulse,

T -Bob. It's like an invisible lightning bolt

hitting a transfer radio. In an instant, it melts

down everything electrical. And how come the

sound system still works? Spatula tubes aren't

affected by EMPs. And the sound system's loaded

with them. I'll bet I know what's in Venom's

engine. In their land, too? You bet. Now it's

our turn for the surprise. Alright, up next is

Stop Motion. Venom obtains an EMP bomb and threatens

to loot bank vaults across the country by knocking

out all electronics from miles around. Oh my

god. Well... There is one good thing, this episode

does take place stateside, thankfully. Thankfully

this isn't a treasure hunt. It's more of a bank,

well it is a bank heist, but thankfully it isn't

a damn treasure hunt in the middle of a stupid

jungle somewhere. Yeah, speaking of the location,

it's in Indiana, my home state. Gloria actually

races in the Indy 500. Yes, yes she does. And

by the way, that is not the Indianapolis Motor

Speedway. No, of course not. Why would it be?

That is kind of funny. I like the plot of this

one. It's interesting. It's always interesting

to me when they insert part of the plot device

to be... To affect T Bob. So, you know something

is really wrong if he's really going crazy More

than his usual antics. Yeah, I Will say that

T Bob is a robot people come on writers get it

together T Bob is not a huge. Oh I I hear pulses

all the time and blah blah blah. It's like oh

my god. This dude is not human That's one thing

I don't like about the writing direction of this

show is how they try certain writers will try

to make T Bob human He's not human. He's a programmable

machine Right, I don't like that either it doesn't

annoy me every episode But yeah, it's one of

those things. I wish they would just write him

a little differently and stop Trying to give

him emotions and you know Have him be able to

feel different things. He's a robot. You know

he doesn't have this incredible artificial intelligence,

and I think it's better the episodes where they

Play it that way come off better. You know when

when Scott is just tinkering with him and making

him pop popcorn or You know make him Ten times

faster or something I think those make for funnier

moments and Become more entertaining during the

episode absolutely All right, we're gonna get

to the high beams No dagger, maybe we connected

you up to this generator. We could charge up

your brain. Nah, you'd only blow the fuse Alright,

turning on the high beams here. Yay, the shoot

opened and they don't plummet to their death.

I thought the episode was flowing very well.

I was really enjoying it. There really isn't

too much wrong with this episode. We'll get to

that a little bit later, but I really was enjoying

this as I was watching it. The animation is spot

on and I thought that was great. Aura versus

everything else means Reversal Fortune for Venom,

I thought that was funny. The stiletto hitting

the tire, now that's a funny flat. Yeah, it blew

out Rex's tire. Yeah. And the PSA, yes, it is

not good to pull a fire alarm when there is no

fire. What does that have to do with the episode?

Yeah, nothing, but That's actually two PSA's

back -to -back that have fire trucks in them.

I believe the other episode did too Possibly.

Yeah. What did you like about this one as you

said? Them being saved during the fall by the

parachute That Scott had given to T Bob because

he made he actually gave T Bob extra speed made

him faster and noisier. Which T -Bob commented

on, I thought that was great. And I actually

thought that whole sequence where it's just before

the commercial break and so we're left on that

cliffhanger where T -Bob and Scott are falling

and you're wondering, okay, well actually it

was just T -Bob that was falling. What was going

to happen? And Scott tells him to open up the

parachute. Yeah, that was really cool. I like

the animation behind that too It looked really

good because when when T Bob lands He's being

dragged by it Yeah, that was funny. I like that.

Yeah, so Scott tells him to use his boosters

and that helps T Bob upright That helps him up

Well, he tells him to put his wheel down and

then use his boosters and it helps him upright

But it takes him a little while to actually get

the chute back in his little back back there

It was funny though. It was a good scene. Yeah,

so that was good It was cool seeing that Scott's

tinkering with T Bob actually helped him out

of a situation and saved his life I thought that

that tied in nicely later in the episode, you

know because of that sequence There weren't as

many puns this episode, which was great and we

knew that Venom was behind the EMP We had no

doubt, but they didn't try to hide it from us

and When it came, you know, we just expected

it and I was okay with that as opposed to maybe

some of the other alternatives. So Yeah, I was

like you I just sat back and enjoyed this one.

I didn't have very many complaints about it.

It was pretty good episode overall Yeah, I have

two major complaints which I can guess we can

go ahead and get to those in low beams after

this Alright, turning on the low beams. Why the

hell would Scott grab T -Bob's hand when he is

hooked to the cable? That just puts Scott in

more danger. There's your PSA moment for this

episode. They could have done something with

that. Yeah, they could have, yes. every safe

and bank vault combination in America, the book

would have to be at least three to five times

the size of what it actually was, if that were

true. I mean, yeah, I have this as a low beam,

too. That is just that's just ridiculous. So

folks, just don't don't even buy a safe if you

don't have one and if you have one. find some

other means to secure your items because there

is a journal with every safe combination in it

somewhere in the world and venom is going to

take it now you think about this in today's standards

if they were doing this episode today how many

how many people are actually living in north

america alone or just in the lower 48 states

alone you know you You have cities with populations

in the thousands, hundreds of thousands, sometimes,

you know, millions. There's no way, and I know,

and I make this defense, oh, but it was the 80s

and there weren't that, that's bull because I'm

sorry. North America is way, the United States

is way too big to hold all of those combinations.

Right. It's just one in one trapper keeper because

that's what it looked like a friggin trapper

keeper Yeah, it's this very small notebook. It

doesn't look like it has very many pages at all

I mean, maybe not even a hundred pages. It's

very thin So it must have very tiny print or

it or there aren't that many safes in the world

It's the International Safe Corporation It's

you know what they what they could have done

here. I think to make it a little more plausible.

I mean I okay what they could have done to make

a little more plausible was just have it be the

safe combination to some large banks or a large

bank or something and we could have just gone

with that but every safe yeah it is cartoon and

actually i don't fault them too bad a lot of

cartoons do goofy things i think it's okay to

be a little bit goofy and go to the extreme sometimes

but I just thought that was a bit too far -fetched.

It didn't take away from my enjoyment of the

episode though Well, no, it didn't I mean it

was just one moment where I was like what? Seriously,

it's one. Oh, yeah, it's a laughable moment that

kind of takes you out of the episode for a minute

Yeah For me this episode. I really really liked

it. I think it was really well done it The book

is really what? Keeps me from giving this a five

so I'm gonna give this four out of five Yeah,

I'm gonna give it three I felt like it was kind

of another middle of the road episode. I did

enjoy it It had a few faults, but overall it's

pretty good. I mean, you know it I Could probably

go three point five, but I have three down here.

I think it's a good solid episode All right,

we're gonna move on to the final episode of the

day How do you do, Brother Nicodemus? This is

my associate, Alex Sector. My son, Scott, and

his friend, Teefah. Welcome, friends. I was informed

you were coming. You really like living up there?

Like a fish loves the water, my son. Boy, must

be flying fish to get way up there. Mr. Tracker?

I know you have come here to help us, but it

will not be necessary. But there must be some

way I can help. I can assure you, there isn't.

Nothing was stolen of any consequence. Now I

must go. Good day, gentlemen. And Robot. Friendly

as a puppy dog, isn't he? He's keeping something

from us. But Mask has their secrets, too. We

must respect the monks. Antlers of plenty! Antlers

of Artemis, mysterious horns of old! Without

your help, we could not carry out our work and

studies all told. Join me, brothers! Antlers

of Artemis, we vow to keep your secret for eternity!

And let us use your endless help to continue

our fraternity! I only make pledges to the Venom

fraternity! The Andors! They must be protected!

Alright, finally up today is the Artemis Enigma.

Venom plans to steal a sacred horn from a group

of monks that is rumored to detect gold. Oh God,

here we go. Another treasure hunt episode, I

know those are your favorites. Seriously, ugh.

Golden antlers from a deer. So they basically

hunted down Rudolph. Instead of capturing his

red nose, they cut off his antlers, turned them

into gold, and they magically Enhance them to

be gold detector I Will say that there was one

scene I think it was when the thing shot out

of miles his hand and Ended up in the wall. It

reminded me of one of those one of the old Bugs

Bunny cartoons where the bull is chasing him

and the bull ended up hitting the wall and Bugs

is taking the hammer and kind of bashing down

his horns. I just kind of find that a little

funny. This one just... I don't know, man. This

one isn't that great. I wouldn't even say this

is a middle of the road episode. It's not horrible,

but it's not... I don't know. What did you think

of the overall plot? Overall, that was... Kind

of bored with this one. I was just not that interested

in the plot besides it being another gold hunt

I I didn't really like the idea of the golden

horns of Artemis They were stealing from the

monks and the the mountains I mean, I mean not

that that's you know upsetting to me or anything,

but just it just didn't seem very interesting

Right. I did like that. We got to see what the

mask Well what the one mass member was doing

when she was called Gloria. She was getting coffee

and Alex was already pre -selected but Yeah,

I mean I I'm like I didn't hate it, but it's

not gonna be a favorite There was a note in the

plot section that I wrote down was did we find

out what the plot is yet and it was like like

the reason why I wrote it down is because usually

once they you know, have the location verified

as Greece or wherever the hell. Usually as soon

as that's set or as soon as, usually as soon

as the team is called or selected or whatever,

they then go into exposition of what, why they're

there. And it was, it took, I don't know, it

took them a while for it. Maybe I just missed

it. I don't know. It was like, what are we here

for? It's like, seriously, what are we doing

here? Why are we wasting all this money, Matt

Tracker? Come on. Yeah, I didn't. I don't think

you missed it. I felt the same way, and I felt

that way with some of the other episodes. We

talked about this a little bit back, I believe,

in episode 15, how it just sometimes takes so

long to get to the point of what we're doing

this episode. They just drag it out as if they

want to surprise us, but we know there's going

to be venom behind it. You can do other things

leading up to that point to make it more interesting.

But this one, you're just kind of waiting for

things to happen. And I don't know, there's just

not a lot there to move the plot forward. No,

not at all. So let's go turn on the high beams.

Alright, for high beams, Alex has a few good

one -liners in this episode. So that's kind of

nice. I wrote this down, and I guess I noticed

at one point the cutscenes had gone missing,

but my note was the cutscenes are back. Because

I think there was an episode or two, I didn't

mention it in episode 15 or 16, but I believe

that there was an episode or two where the...

The thing when Miles or Matt or Alex or Bruce

or whoever it is says, you know, Mask will be

back after this and so will Venom. There was

an episode, I believe, recently where they weren't

there. They just faded to black and then the

episode came back where almost every other episode

has those two cutscenes. So those are back. The

animation in the aerial battle was awesome. I

thought that was done really well. Let's see.

Switchblade's wing has got clipped. That was

funny. And once again, another fire -themed PSA,

dumb to play with fire. Well, of course it is

dumb to play with fire. Yeah. These PSAs. No,

I agree on the high beam with the awesome perspective.

That was really great. Yeah, that was awesome.

That was so cool. We haven't seen, they've used

shots like that before in the series, so it looked

pretty cool. And they used a couple of different

ones. Yeah, they used a bunch of different ones.

Yeah, or at least there were a couple different

scenes where they used that forced perspective

on the switchblade. It looked real nice. Oh,

yeah. What did you have for high beams for this

one? Fighters threatening Alex trapped in the

canyon. I thought that was cool something different

in the series and Let's see, you know, oh there

were there was some dialogue between dagger and

miles that was pretty funny Dagger says something

like it's dark in here. Yeah says that's because

there is no light and Then he says I can't believe

you work for me dagger, you know Actually, it

was it was miles nice dark in here. Yeah had

it backwards, but But yeah, that was pretty funny

because daggers just you know He's just daggers

a dummy. Yeah, he's not even a loop. He's a dummy.

I was trying to be nice dagger the dummy Most

dull bladen them in the bunch Anything else for

an I beams nothing else all right, we're gonna

get to the low beams after this. Alright, time

to turn on the low beams. Okay, so if Alex was

knocked down by Switchblade, wouldn't his fall

out of the friggin' sky have killed him? Alex

Sector should be dead right now. I know you like

exotic animals, but this is a bit much he Did

he say a bit much or too much? I I can't I couldn't

oh, that's what it was He there's a line I think

I think it was Matt or Bruce or somebody says

I know you like exotic exotic animals, but this

is Much yeah, I could I couldn't hear the line.

Did he say this is a bit much or too much That's

just bad sound engineering. Yeah, I don't remember

which one it was but I do remember that line

searching for gold and water really Scott and

T Bob come on now and Scott's laugh is so infuriating.

Oh my god Scott's laugh is worse than nails on

a chalkboard Really? I don't think it's that

bad. I think it's okay Thought it was kind of

ironic that I put this in low beams. It's not

that I have a problem with it I just find it

Ironically funny that Scott is actually following

his dad's orders this time around at the close

to the end of the episode. Yeah Okay, let's let's

talk about robots and humans and online dates

and birthday T Bobby's a robot. He is not a human.

He does not have a birthday He has a day where

I guess you could say he came online or he was

activated like activation day fine But to say

that he has a damn birthday. That's ridiculous,

right? He's not a damn human But he understands

that it's his birthday that he knows what a birthday

is and they're doing all the traditional birthday

celebration things that's That's not necessary.

No, not at all. Alright, what didn't you like

about this one besides that? Some of the things

we talked about before, just in general, that

it takes a while to move the plot forward this

episode. I'm still not sure I like Alex's mask's

powers. Jack Rabbit. I'm not sure I like that

he can just dance around in the air. I mean,

when he was trying to keep away from Venom, he

was just skipping all over the sky. It was just

kind of comical. Yeah, it was. So, that's what

I have. Alright, for me, this one's gonna get

a 2 out of 5 masks. It's not middle of the road.

It's not outright horrible. but it's not good

either so two out of five for me what about you

i'm giving it two and a half masks yeah because

i i didn't hate it i just was waiting for something

to happen and it just took so long to get there

and this there weren't enough highlights during

this episode to make it very enjoyable Yes, and

apparently my dog doesn't care about anything

We were doing because she's over there throwing

the ball at the wall quite literally so we're

gonna take a Break come back with final thoughts

after this so we'll be back Yes, that's right.

We have traveled to Eternia to enter Castle Grayskull.

Join Optimus Solo and TFJ Mike as they find themselves

telling tales of Eternia. We cover all things

He -Man in this 45 episode long podcast. You

can find us on iTunes and www .geekassradio .com.

By the power of Grayskull, we all have the power.

Pixels in the animation is the Geekcast Radio

Network's video game cartoon review show. We

are covering every episode of nine different

video game cartoons. Join TV's Mr. Neil and myself,

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we are also driving through Donkey Kong Country.

Pixels in the Animation is 100 episodes of video

game cartoon goodness, so tune in to help us

find the pixels in the animation which you can

find every Wednesday on iTunes and www .geekcastradio

.com That's gonna do it for another episode of

Mass Mayhem. You brought up some trivia off air.

What is your trivia good, sir? Well, we had mentioned

the writers of the series on one of the previous

episodes. that we've become somewhat frustrated.

It seemed like the writers on this series weren't

quite to the caliber of some of the other shows.

So I was just doing some research. I paused the

end credits on the series, which shows the list

of writers and the story editors. And I was looking

at some of the writers, and some of the writers

do have credits on INDB, and you can see which

episodes they wrote. So some of those writers

have... an extensive career where they've written

four shows like Jim, He -Man, and other series.

And then there are some of the writers, I know

there's at least maybe one or two that had very

few writing credits. But the name that caught

my attention was Chuck Lorre. And if people don't

know, that is the guy who is, he's credited for

helping create or creating Dharma and Greg, Two

and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory. Yeah

On his IMDb though it lists mask, but it doesn't

list which episodes Yeah, that's an unfortunate

thing. They do have a long list of some of the

writers from the series on IMDb But there are

many of them that they don't have listed as what

episode they're credited for Yeah, and he is

one of them as you said yeah, but when I first

saw his name I was Wondering is that the same

guy? Well, that was you know, the name I'd recognize

from some of those shows And and yeah INDB links

his name links that name to to his profile Interesting

yeah Overall the direction of the show. I'm not

sure if this show has any direction like it just

seems to be plot villain plot of the week not

even villain of the week because every episode

the villain ends up being mayhem ends up being

venom or venom ends up getting away or and then

the secondary guy that they hired is the one

that gets caught and gets sent to jail i i really

don't know what to say about the series so far

because at this point it seems like they're just

pulling stuff out of their asses yeah there are

times when the episodes can be better and more

entertaining, but we know there's going to be

Venom behind it. There hasn't been that much

variety. And we know that there are other Venom,

and I think maybe even other Mask members that

we haven't seen in the series yet. Right. Because

I've seen information online of these other characters

and vehicles. So maybe we'll get to some of that

a little bit later, hopefully, to give us some

more variety. Yeah, I think we do. I think the...

I think everything kind of changes close to the

end of season one, beginning of season two. But

it's one of those things where, and I know this

was made in the 80s. In the 80s, there was no

kind of, hardly any continuity in cartoons. I

get that. Okay. Well, Gem is probably an exception

because Gem did have a strict kind of 65 episode

continuity to it. But Mask is one of those shows

that I guess it felt it was fine going forward

with With the single episode plot of the week

and the reason why I say mask will never grow

is because it doesn't There is zero character

growth for anyone on this cartoon series Scott

and T Bob never learned their lesson in any episode

to this point They they just Matt doesn't He's

still constantly, every now and then, will make

the same mistake of allowing Scott to go on something

as dangerous as one of these missions. We haven't

seen Hondo in God knows how long. I think that

is rectified next time in episode 18, but it's

one of those things where it's like... I just...

Yeah, this is what happens when... Shows are

created just for the purpose of selling toys.

We hear this all the time with a lot of the 80s

cartoons that they're just vehicles to sell the

toys. They're not good cartoons. They're basically

just 20 -minute commercials. I like Kevin. I

know Kevin has expressed his thoughts on this

on some of the podcasts before. Maybe not this

show. I don't remember exactly, but I agree with

his feelings on that, that that is not true.

a blanket statement that people throw out there.

And I do see where that comes from. But when

you look at a lot of the other shows that were

created during the 80s to, you know, quote unquote,

sell toys, the people working behind those shows

were trying to create something entertaining

and something that they enjoyed. So the writers

on on shows like He -Man, Jam, you know, Muppet

babies or Transformers real Ghostbusters and

these other shows They were still trying to create

good cohesive stories that were entertaining

oftentimes paying homage to other Media whether

it be films TV shows that they enjoyed books

that they they they had read this pop culture

in general and That's where this show really

Fall apart, you know it fails big time. It doesn't

bring those things into the show One of the things

it does do and I give it some credit for this

is with the globetrotting that they do They do

sometimes Bring in a little bit of education

with teaching kids more about geography and and

some of the culture and Sometimes history and

there's a little bit of that coming up in some

future episodes. I think as well, but But yeah,

that's one of the things I think they miss as

a core piece of this show, is that you can watch

this show and tell immediately it's designed

to sell toys. You know, someone took this idea

of it's part Transformers, it's part G .I. Joe,

let's sell these toys. And the toys were awesome,

but the show, not so much. No, not really. Alright,

thank you for joining us here on Mast Mayhem.

There's always getting in contact with us, so

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me, TF2 and Mike. What is your Twitter? Tim Silvers.

Hopefully I get that at to master Tim sometime.

Yeah, I never since I think I think we talked

about that in episode 15 or 16. I forgot. I never

I went back and tried to look at that and I never

even saw where they allow you to do it anymore.

They might have taken that. Ability to change

your name away. I don't know. Okay, maybe in

the future folks in the future Yeah, become a

fan on Facebook. Go to facebook .com slash geek

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name 502 -526 -5821 We hope you enjoyed this

episode of Masked Man and wish you'll join us

next time when we'll be covering two more episodes

from Masked Season 1, those being The Chinese

Scorpion and Riddle of the Raven Master. For

now, I am TfG and Mike with Tim Solbers. Thank

you for listening. Until next time.