Quest of the Canyon and The Treasure of Brian Boru Review

you Hello and welcome to mass mayhem. It is episode

20. Holy crap. We made it to the 20th episode

of the podcast I am one of your Steve Joe and

Mike and joining me is the snickering to and

master Tim. Hello. Hello Well, we have made it

it was it was tough this week to get through

some of the episodes We only as of this point

ladies and gentlemen, I know we took a two -year

hiatus But as of this point, we have ten episodes

left of this podcast after this Episode 30 cannot

get here fast enough of the podcast. Oh my god

Just let everybody know ahead of time you may

want to not play this episode of the podcast

when you're at work on Speakers or anything else

cuz I guarantee you I'm going to be yelling at

some point during this episode or the episode

in two weeks in episode 21 because There's some

crap that happens in these cartoons that should

just never happen oh my god it is so bad half

of who I we've tried to look at the the writing

credits for this show I don't even remember if

they even live I think the episodes are so bad

I don't even remember seeing titles in the lake

I know there's no titles in the actual theme

song intro, but as soon as the episode comes

up, I honestly do not remember if there are titles

and credits in the beginning. In G1, you see

the return of Optimus Prime written by blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah. You see that. I don't

know if Mask has that. People say the season

two, the racing season, is really bad. It can't

be any... Worse than what we're already watching

well that remains to be seen How much worse it

could get I was actually hoping that You know

I just kind of have this vision of what season

2 is going to be like because it's called the

racing season And I know there are some characters

and vehicles. We haven't seen yet, so I'm thinking

oh You know, I wonder how they change things

in season two, and maybe it's going to be more

interesting because there'll be those factors

in the episodes, but if it's any worse, yeah,

we're going to be suffering pretty badly. And

what you were saying about the title cards, yeah,

they don't list the title of the episodes during

the episodes, so that's one of the things I have

to do in preparations for the episodes is, you

know, I usually go back to the main menu on the

DVD. Just so I can write down the title because

they don't have a title card. They don't give

a writer credit or director credit or anything

per episode that is Mask I know there were executive

producers because I believe there's a I believe

there is a bonus feature There's a retrospective

feature at on the final on the volume 6 disc

from shout factory And I believe at some point

before like like when we do the season 1 recap

I'm gonna have to watch that and see Who the

guys names are because I know Brian Ward did

talk to several of the people who were involved

with mask But it seems like to me. It's like

Year, okay Did you ever read the, this isn't

off topic, but this is going back to our childhood,

has you ever read the Hardy Boys case files as

a kid? No, I did not. The Hardy Boys case files,

Hardy Boys books are basically, they're young

adult books, they're about these two brothers

who do detective work in a town called Bayport

and they end up going, it's basically, You know

an amalgamation of Sherlock Holmes and James

Bond and any kind of detective story you can

think of But they're they're high schoolers.

They're 17 and 18 and whatever else and they

basically do PI work for their father Fenton

Hardy who Is an actual you know private investigator

so when I'm reading these I you know, I see all

the you know, I as a kid i see the author's name

franklin w dixon years later as an adult i would

learn that franklin w dixon does not exist the

hardy boys case files books were no a number

of one of a number of children's books are young

adult reading books that were made by this consortium

basically nameless and faceless people think

of it as the mnpa for books The MPAA for books.

That's what Mask feels like to me. It feels like,

and I know we mentioned that Chuck Lorre has

his writing credits on or whatever else, but

it's one of those things where it's because they

don't show the episode name, they don't show

any kind of credit at all. Every other 80s cartoon

does this. This is the only one to my knowledge

that doesn't or the only one that I've seen that

doesn't. And it makes me think that it's just.

It's just some consortium of faceless, nameless

people just coming up with crap to give us. I

loved this show as a kid. And it's not even that

I'm gonna say, oh, well, it doesn't hold up.

Because, well, it doesn't, but that's beside

the point. The point is, watching it in the moment

where it was supposed to be in the 80s, even

then, I'm surprised that there were PTA groups

not screaming at Deke. for airing this show they're

oh god so bad yeah it's a fairly harmless show

and i wonder what the deceit it's fairly harmless

in terms of it's not uh overly violent it's not

the the plots aren't too complicated or complex

for for kids to pick up on that's what i meant

by saying that but yeah i wonder what the precipice

was for not having the title cards not Giving

the writer credit during the episode because

like you said a lot of other shows did do that

Or at least had a title card Absolutely, and

and I you know if you look at the ending credits

we talked about this on an earlier episode But

there are a lot of writers listed You know as

having Worked on the episodes for the series,

so you know they had quite a extensive writing

staff I don't recognize a lot of the names, you

know, we talked about Chuck Laurie being one

that was recognizable, but The other ones I didn't

recognize and you know, you and I've watched

a lot of cartoons and and none of those names

really popped out No You know, we're you know,

you and I are doing this at the same time that

I'm trying to get through Tales of Eternia for

the master for the He -Man show Honestly out

of the two He -Man has bad moments. He -Man has

bad writing moments. He -Man has bad plot moments.

But they make a hell of a lot more sense than

anything that has come out of Mask to this point.

Yeah, they do. It's pretty interesting to compare

them and see the differences. And you look at

that and you say, OK, well, what is it that He

-Man is doing that Mask isn't doing? And I think

you have just a... Yeah, you have a good... caliber

of quality writers on that series that drew from

a lot of different inspiration and it's not just

the same plot devices over and over again. I

mean, yes, there are some plots that kind of

repeat what's been done in episodes in He -Man

2, but it's not quite to the extent that it's

done in Mask. And then you also have a really

good voice cast as well. And a good variety of

characters and they and they do add some depth

of the characters in some of those episodes Which

really haven't seen much of that in mass. They're

pretty much just you know cardboard Characters,

you know, this is a good guy. This is a bad guy

and there's just not much depth to them I think

between this episode and and and the episode

in two weeks episode 21 we have a total of maybe

six or seven new characters uh... that get zero

introduction or explanation uh... you know we

just get the computer telling us why they why

they should be on that mission uh... so it's

going to be an interesting two weeks with episode

twenty and twenty one because we've got a whole

lot of new stuff coming up so we are going to

get to the episodes after this Sample number

one dates from year 1878, belonging to legendary

outlaw Jesse James. Oh, boy! Then this has got

to belong to Jesse James. It's one of those ten

-gallon hats. How do I look? You've got another

five gallons to go. Fingerprint sample number

two dates to this year, belonging to contemporary

outlaw Miles Mayhem. Mayhem. Wonder what no good

he's up to this time. chickens there's something

about that map we saw on the wall that's it select

the mask agents best suited for this mission

Alright, first up today is Quest of the Canyon.

Mask goes to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico,

where Venom plans to steal the lost treasure

of the legendary gunman Jesse James. Another...

Okay, I'll give them props. At least it's not

in a friggin' foreign country. At least it's

in America. I knew you were gonna like that.

I'll give them props for that, and I actually

had to look up the Carlsbad Caverns because a

buddy of mine, Doug Abel, who does talking about

my generation, he is actually living in Carlsbad,

but he's in the California way. There's multiple

Carlsbad ones, so I was curious to see if this

was the California desert or the New Mexico desert.

It turns out to be New Mexico. What do you think

of the plot of this? Feel like we've seen this

before kind of I Did like the setting I really

thought it provided a good Background for the

story and actually, I mean I just like the backgrounds

in this episode anyway I thought thought they

looked great and I kind of like these sort of

settings and I think it really works Well in

a series like mask So that I liked But overall

I just kind of sat back and enjoyed this one,

but I didn't really enjoy it so much for the

plot Yeah, no I Speaking of stuff what we have

a new team member this time around who's on the

teams this time Yeah, this is pretty cool. We

get ace Riker and he's driving slingshot so he's

called up and then we We also have Bruno Shepard

on the Venom side. He's driving a vehicle called

Stinger. So yeah, it was really cool seeing new

mask members and new Venom members. I like that.

Again, they're not doing a whole lot with the

characters, but it's good to see some variety

here. And I thought the vehicles were pretty

cool, actually. The new vehicles are great, the

new masks are really cool, but as far as plot,

there's nothing yet. We are... Let me look here.

This episode, Quest of the Canyon, is the 48th

episode out of 65 in Season 1. They - we are

48 episodes into this series. They - and I understand

the 80s wasn't about character development and

it isn't like how cartoons are written nowadays,

but you would think by the 48th episode you would

stop doing the random T -Bob joke or the random

Scott joke or putting Scott in peril or - you

would think that they would do all this stuff

by now. You think that they would learn and maybe

grow that like - What I would love out of this

series I know I'm never gonna get it even though

I haven't watched the rest of the episodes I

automatically already know from the 47 previous

episodes we've talked about between you and Optimus

Solo and I We get zero the the only background

we get on the original mask members Brad Dusty

Bruce Alex and Hondo Because Matt's a whole other

ball of wax all those guys we get Okay, one of

them is a history teacher. One of them loves

animals. The other one is a toy designer One

of them is a rock star What is what is dusty's

a ranch hand or a Wrangler or something or the

I don't Bruce seems to be an inventor or yeah

We get like one or two lines telling us what

they do and where I would love it. I would have

loved it if some of these mask episodes would

have gone into their lives or had Venom try to

go, cause Venom doesn't care. Venom doesn't know

who any of the mask members are. There was that

one episode where Miles found out that Matt Tracker

was the leader, but then they conveniently erased

that with a plot device the size of the goddamn

matrix of leadership. Yeah, if they could start

off some episodes by following one of the mask

members or something, you know, like we talked

about Bruce, you know, he's an inventor and maybe,

you know, he's working at the university on some

invention and then mask gets or venom gets wind

of that device and wants to get their hands on

it and then They lead off from that and then

bring in Matt maybe some other mask members at

some point You know find different ways to Bring

the characters in and also to profile some of

the characters more rather than okay, you know

Matt is off with Scott and T Bob and you know

in Africa this week or Australia We're in China

and then venom just happens to be there as well

So it would have been nice if they could have

thrown in some of that variety if you look at

Like you said with the powers of grayskull the

he -man podcast is going on You have orco and

and he's kind of a goofball, you know, sometimes

his his spells don't go very well and They've

done things with that or they've done things

with man -at -arms, you know at one point he

decides that he's going to quit his job because

one of his machines backfired and then that you

know gives you a moment to spend time with that

character and then Make him realize how valuable

he is uh to to the team and uh and and develop

the character throughout the episode and we just

don't really see that type of development in

the series no not at all so we are hopefully

going to be able to turn the high beams on i

don't know maybe somebody broke them we'll see

after this all right turning on the high beams

here we go A burrow ride. No thanks. I'm with

T -Bob on this one. I have never cared for four

-legged animals you can ride. Now let me let

me justify this all right. When I was somewhere

between four and six years old maybe seven no

yeah between four and seven years of age my dad

and my future stepmother took me to their friend's

farm in Massachusetts that had horses. Yeah,

I don't think it was a farm. It was probably

just a house with state. Yeah. You got all kinds

of people on the, you know, on the Cape and on,

you know, on the south shore, you know, before

you really go inland into Massachusetts, like

where the farms really are. But, you know, you've

got houses that have, you know, horse stables

and they were on all this and all that. So I,

for the life of me, because of this group of

palsy could not get on the damn horse when i

did finally get on the horse they they my my

dad helped me get up there and get on there i

was i just couldn't handle the height and the

horse threw me so yeah no i'm not a fan of elephants

horses zebras any any four -legged animal you

can ride i have a safe respectable uh respect

for That those animals from a distance. I don't

mind, you know going up to a horse and patting

him whatever else but Ain't no way in hell. I'm

getting on a horse. So I'm with T Bob there.

So there's one good thing Yeah, I have a similar

story too I was probably around nine or ten when

I got on the back of a horse for the very first

time and I was kind of excited about it but then

as you said like as a kid getting up there it

was just like whoa, this is up really high and

I don't know if he threw me or if I just wanted

off at that point, but that's the last time I

remember being on a horse I haven't gotten on

one since I'm almost 35 years old I haven't gotten

on one since I was somewhere between four and

seven and I never will like I said, I have a

healthy respect from a distance for the animals,

but No way in hell Ever get back in a war I would

much rather go on a damn helicopter, which I

have died I did do as a kid. I would much rather

do that and be you know What five seven five

seven hundred feet up in the air? Yeah flying

over a city then then riding a damn horse So

the scene switches because it because that's

the thing they with this episode they have a

A storyline and a B storyline the A storyline

is the mass team going off and splitting up and

searching for Whatever that you know they're

searching for venom and whatever else and Scott

and T Bob were on this B storyline with doing

all these outdoor activities So we go back to

the A storyline and we see Bruce in the cave

and Yeah, he's about to have himself a cat -tastrophe,

isn't he? Yes, he is. He just about gets his

foot bitten off by this puma. Yep. Which didn't

exactly quite look like a puma, I thought. It

was a pretty big cat as well. Yeah. Probably

a little bigger than it should be in scale. Yeah,

possibly. It took me a few moments to write this

line after the scene. I had to actually pause

the disc and figure out if i can really really

write this and give props to these characters

but holy shit scott and t -bob actually did something

right and stopped venom before mass got there

because they which is surprising to me because

t -bob never whispers scott will whisper every

now and then but t -bob is always too damn loud

and i'm surprised that venom never hears him

but they go around and do all these things to

the vehicles so so they won't run um First of

all, how does Scott know how to do all this crap?

I know he hangs out with his dad, I know he hangs

out with the math team and he sees them repairing

vehicles, but like, this kid is, how old would

you say he is? Nine or ten? I would say close

to around ten. By ten, that would be maybe fifth

or sixth grade. Something like that. I don't

know. I just I as much as I enjoyed them finally

doing something, right? It's still I still have

to call it in the question though Yeah, but I

I kind of like that that They keep that consistent

throughout the series because he is always tinkering

with T Bob So it does make sense that he's somewhat

mechanically inclined and that he can get under

the hood of a car and know what things are, know

how to disable the ignition or disconnect the

gas lines or whatever. And his dad is Matt Tracker

who has some sort of mechanical knowledge as

well. So I kind of like that. They use it a few

other times during the series as well where he's

able to disable the the Venom vehicles at some

point. So yeah, I thought that was a good way

to bring them into this episode and have Venom

defeated by Mask. What did you have for highlights

on this one? I liked a lot of the animation in

this one. I thought it was very fluid. I like

when Matt blows up the rock with Thunderhawk's

guns. as they're going down the canyon there's

a rock block in the way so he used a gun to blast

that out of the way and I thought it was really

well done and then we're also in the cavern there

was one of those carts on the tracks and of course

that's uh that's when Bruce almost loses his

foot to the puma and of course the tracks aren't

finished yet so it looked like they It didn't

look like they weren't finished. It looked like

part of it was destroyed. Yeah, that's what it

was. It was destroyed Yeah, they were kind of

pointed up and we go into the commercial break

at that point wondering what's gonna happen,

but Bruce Bruce's mask is called lifter. So you

know, he's gonna be able to get through it But

that was pretty cool. And then There was a really

cool transformation of Switchblade in this one.

As I was mentioning, there's some really good

animation in this one. And we see the transformation

from behind and underneath Switchblade, which

we have not seen before. It was just really cool

seeing the transformation from that angle. I

thought it was very well done. Absolutely, absolutely.

Alright, we're gonna turn on the low beams after

this I have got a long list for low beams Okay,

well I only have one written down Okay, go ahead.

So um, so yeah Mike my low beams. I only have

one You know, there were issues with the plot

and this one and so forth But I kind of liked

how the a storyline to be storyline Weed together

in this one, but low beams. I mean spectrum.

It's a very powerful mask I understand that has

some amazing powers But I don't understand how

it knew which cave contained the gold that they

needed to go into Well, it detects sound It detects

some sort of sound waves and I guess the sound

waves from the vehicles maybe I think that's

how they explained it. Okay, well then I just

missed that part. I don't know. Alright. Well,

while I lay dying over here... You alright? 124

edit point. So I remember to end it Alright,

so for my low beams T bitch is a damn robot.

He shouldn't be exhausted at all. He is a machine

for the love of God Complain complain complain.

That's all Scott ever does it. There's this There's

a scene after T Bob is complaining he's exhausted

and then Scott starts complaining about something

about not being able to go on the mission or

yeah I think that's what it was or or that there's

nothing to do and blah blah blah blah blah I

wrote this down this way because I didn't remember

the name of the of the um the pilot but uh boo

Slingshot has the same voice as Rex Like, I get

it. They're on a limited budget. They can only

pay actors for three roles. But the guy that

pilot's slingshot, his voice in Rex, it's the

same voice actor. It's pretty much the same voice

for both characters. I didn't quite like that.

I've had that same issue with some of the other

characters and some of the other new characters

that will be introduced to here pretty soon.

One in particular that's voiced by the guy who

voices Alex. in the series and for a moment I

was watching the episode and you know I have

my head down taking notes and I hear the voice

and I'm thinking oh it's Alex you know he showed

up and it wasn't it was the new guy so yeah the

voice acting in this one you know sometimes you

get voice actors that can do a good job of playing

two or three characters and you can tell us them

but you don't just right away pick it out they

do a good job of changing their voice enough

that You don't pick up on it. Maybe immediately

especially if you're you're a kid But in this

series, yeah, it's sometimes they're not very

distinguishable No, not at all All right Too

many puns Bruce way too many the entire time.

He was in his mind adventure way too many puns.

Yeah This is something that's gonna come up later,

but it also came up here This episode took near

I actually looked at my timer when venom finally

showed up it took nearly 12 to 13 minutes out

of a 22 21 minute 22 episode 21 22 minute episode

for venom to even show their faces Yeah, you

know that's It seems to happen quite frequently,

too I mean I've noticed that is that we won't

see any of the venom members until after that

first commercial break you know um and then miles

mayhem himself has he never he he acts as he

if is if he has never seen gold before um the

last 11 episodes of the show or something, he

has been on gold searches and he has seen gold.

There's a point when they find the treasure and

he's like, ooh, shiny. I know he never saw it

before. It's like, seriously, dude, like you.

Whatever. I know that caught my attention, too,

because he's just like, wow. Yeah. I could believe

it. Oh, I've never seen gold before. I mean,

it would be different if this was his first gold

hunt, but he has been hunting for gold for the

past 47 episodes off and on. It's something that's

going to come up later. I don't know if it's

going to come up later in this episode or if

it's going to come up in episode 21 in two weeks,

but it's one of those things where there's another

part of Venom in general. That I completely call

into question for as to why we even need them

in this series So in the PSA for this one was

don't read without proper light, which is very

it's a very good PSA because Yeah, no Reading

without proper light is not good Yeah, it was

kind of cool too that Scott was reading about

Jesse James Yeah, so it tied into the episode

a bit. Yeah, so at least it tied into the episode

What are you going to give this one for a rating?

I know you're going to fall over in your chair.

If you give it a four, I will reach through my

computer and punch you. Get ready to reach through

the computer. I like this one. I mean, for this

series, I thought it was enjoyable. Like I said,

I... was able to just sit back and enjoy this

one. I mean, maybe it's because it's the first

episode this week and I wasn't cringing at this

point. You know, I kind of had a fresh perspective

going into it. But the animation was good. It

was cool seeing some new members. I like the

background. So I gave it a four because I thought

it was above average for this series. Now, again,

it's not great, but it was enjoyable. I gotta

give it two out of five masks. Um, it, okay.

Sure. It took place in the U S that's great,

but it's the same damn plot we've seen. And like

I said, the last nine, eight, nine, 10, 11, they're

looking for gold. They're looking for venom is

all about the get rich quick scheme or get get

enough money to take over the world yet they

never get enough money and you gotta think about

this though how how much money are they paying

or having to try to steal to be able to you know

do the upkeep on their vehicles I mean vehicles

don't last as long and especially with how many

times any of their damn vehicles. Okay, Matt

and Mask, I can forgive of this because Matt

is a philanthropist. He is a friggin' billionaire.

It's a little different because he has money

tied up everywhere. But Venom, it's like, okay

sure, you wanna go on a gold search so you can

have money, but you're never gonna get it because

Mask won't let you. I don't know, it's gonna

come up again. Two out of five. This one was

just... I'm tired of them trying to make T -Bob

human. He's not human. How about putting some

goddamn character development to Scott as the

human character? Yeah. I mean... It's very frustrating

when you see them pushing so hard to make T -Bob

have these human characteristics. And he shouldn't.

It's a machine. So we are going to go to the

next episode. Just through, Mr. Mayhem, I've

been seeing the treasure of Brian Baru with me

own eyes. Who is this Brian what's -his -name?

Sounds like a two -bit thief to me. Probably

one of your relatives, Rax. Shut up! I want to

hear more about this treasure! According to the

legend, King Baru left behind a lost pot of gold,

and I found it down by the rocks, just like I

told you. You told me! Now get lost! Rax, Stagger,

prepare the vehicles. Vanessa, check our supplies.

We're leaving immediately. But what about me

sharing the treasure? What do I get? Your life.

You'll not get away with it. May the curse of

a leprechaun's thousand fairy darts pierce your

black heart if he be disturbing the gold guarded

by the wee people. Gee, I sure hate to get stuck

without fairy darts. So does everybody have their

lucky charms when they were watching this episode

cuz it's time to follow the rainbow This is episode

49 of season 1 venom goes to Ireland to find

the treasure of Brian Boru At the end of the

rainbow, that's literally what it says. Oh My

god Let me think I can Okay, it's an Irish episode

yay Again a gold search, okay, I know usually

when you know the whole You know fall the rainbow

leprechaun thing comes up. It's kind of funny.

It's kind of cool But what it boils down to is

another boring gold search episode. Yeah, it's

played straight. It's just another gold search.

So, you know, we're in Ireland. We've got, you

know, the rainbow, the lucky pot of gold at the

end of the rainbow. They just don't do much with

it. There are other series that would have a

little more fun with that or find some interesting

dynamic way to play off that sort of story. But

here we just play it as a straight gold rush

or gold search. We've got several new team members

this time around. Who was on the teams this time?

We have Julio who is on the mask team. He drives

Firefly. He's an international missions expert.

Where the heck has he been? He's also a doctor

He is also a doctor and he shows up in some later

episodes we'll be talking about so we'll see

more of him but So we have a new member there

and then we have Calhoun Burns driving Raven

And when he's called it's kind of cool. He gives

water to the horse, but it's just out of reach

So he has to go back and move the bucket for

the horse And then on the Venom side we have

the regulars. We have Rax, Dagger, and Vanessa,

along with Miles. There's nothing to the plot

here. I mean, nothing. You don't even, like,

it would have been nice if they'd thrown Lucky

in there or if they'd thrown the Trix rabbit

in there or some, you know, some mythical creature

instead of just Matt being shrunken down to look

like a leprechaun. Well, they, yeah, they do

that. Not sure what to think about that. And

then they also have this curse of a leprechaun's

thousand fairy darts. Yeah. So that was kind

of funny. They, they talked about that. There's

this guy, Mike, who basically leads Miles and

Venom to the gold. He knows where it's at. And

of course, they're supposed to give him a share

of the treasure and they're going to cut him

out and give him nothing. So why did he even

bother to tell Venom about this in the first

place. If he knew where the treasure was, why

not just take it for himself? What was he going

to get from Venom? I mean, okay, if you know

where it's at, you can take the whole thing,

or you can tell this terrorist organization,

and they'll give you half of it. That makes no

sense. But one of the things that was kind of

interesting to lead off is that there was the

rainbow, but there was no rain. Yeah, so we knew

right away that it was some sort of hologram

Yeah And it was not truly outrageous no So we're

gonna get to the high beams in a moment I wish

we had a Thunderhawk instead of this rented car

Level one emergency select best agents for a

mission in Ireland. Oh boy The Fighting O 'Trackers

to the rescue! You're half right, Scott. Only

your half will be safe at the farmhouse. Julio

Lopez, occupation, position, vehicle code name

Firefly. Expertise lies in international missions.

Occupation architect vehicle code name Raven

amphibious vehicles could be essential Selection

approved assemble mobile armored strike command

advise also need Thunderhawk for this mission

All right, we are turn on the high beams. What

do you got? There were some pretty cool things

going on here. It was really nice seeing boulder

hill again, even though it was just for like

a second or two Because we hadn't seen that in

a long time There was also an interesting technique

that venom used to Get a couple of vehicles out

there to the gold site. So switchblade actually

drops down jackhammer and piranha Down it actually,

you know miles flew them in and then dropped

them down. That was kind of cool Scott and T

-Bob took a lot of shots at each other this time.

Yeah, Scott was calling T -Bob D -U -M -B, and

then T -Bob was commenting that Scott could eat

a double cheeseburger every minute if he could.

T -Bob was actually useful in this one, too,

I thought. They turned him to a surfboard. And

then, because they were caught out in the water

near the rocks in the surf, so... So T -Bob turns

into a surfboard, and then once he gets close

enough to the rocks, then he's using his arms

to extend from one rock to the other until they

can get to land. So I thought that was a pretty

cool way to use T -Bob in this episode, instead

of just shoving puns down his throat. True. And

then there was a really good shot that Vanessa

took at Rax as well. She says... Something like

close that mouth of yours before a bat mistakes

it as a cave Mm -hmm. That was pretty funny.

So what have you got for high beams? Hey Raven,

I had that toy Finally see Raven in the series.

Oh, yeah, you had that one. Cool. Yeah, I was

the one I had I had that one versus Thunderhawk

There are way too many bad puns and that's what

half of my notes are. Yeah, honestly is is the

puns sheep scalping training razor steel wool

And then Scott says my for T Bob says my four

leaf clover and Scott pipes in says you mean

our four leaf clover Scott didn't you want to

believe in the luck of the Irish let alone you

know all that stuff I do like Matt's line at

the end they leprechaun venom I thought that

was kind of cool other than that not much honestly

this episode is it's alright it's fun but at

the same time there's some pretty some pretty

bad moments in this as well yes there are So

let's go turn on the low beams in a moment Getting

to the low beams way too many shaving puns Yeah,

and what's the deal with Matt developing these

shears he develops some shears that Take like

half the time that it used to yeah Okay, I don't

know T Bob's intelligent talk no good just stop

Yeah, that was wasn't that after he kissed the

Barney stone or something yeah something like

that This is like the millionth time that switchblade

is down yet the next episode I guarantee you

it's back up and running Yes, that was one of

my low beams as well because it was smashed pretty

bad in this episode And seriously Matt allows

Scott to go off on his own or back to their hotel

or wherever by himself Such bad parenting. Oh

My god What do you got Well, you cover a lot

of ones I had but this in general this episode

is just a mess I mean, things are just thrown

together, it seems. We have Mike, this Irish

guy in the beginning, and he knows about the

treasure, like I said, and he was hoping to get

half a cut from Venom. And they give him nothing,

and you think at some point he's going to return

during the episode to inflict his revenge and

get back at Venom, and he just disappears. He

never comes back. And besides that, the battle

was lackluster. Again, we get venom doing nothing

more than chasing down some lost treasure of

gold. So Just disappointing overall. They didn't

You know do something more with this one. But

again, we didn't have high expectations going

into it knowing what the the title was We knew

there was gonna be golden leprechauns involved.

It it could have been worse, but It it just was

not good What are you gonna rate this one? I'm

giving this one two masks and that's being very

generous One Too many shaving puns just You know

you say this episode was supposed to be fun I

had no like I laughed maybe once And I think

it was at the very end when Matt did the leprechaun

venom trick Line yeah The rest of the time, it

was just horrible. So it gets a 1 for me. And

then we have the PSA. Yeah, don't use lighter

fluid, ladies and gentlemen. No lighter fluid,

kids. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, keep those kids

away from your grill. Yeah. Pretty much. So we're

going to get to the last episode of the day after

this. This is Cape Canaveral. General Wilson

promises you full support. If you need anything,

just ask. But I have to tell you guys, security's

checked this base thoroughly, and we've found

nothing. Thank you, Tower. We'll keep that in

mind. Now I suggest you clear the area of all

support personnel. Roger. like hot dogs on a

grill Vanessa she's all yours rendezvous as soon

as you're clear activating launch control Finally

up today is episode 50 of the series The Everglades

Oddities. So we've had two episodes of the show

in this podcast that take place in the U .S.

That's two out of three ain't bad. And, you know,

being in Ireland, I don't mind. What I mind when

they go overseas is if they go to China one too

many episodes, or if they go to the same place

one too many times, or if they just go to a nondescript

jungle too many times. That's when I really mind

the overseas location stuff. Going to Ireland,

just them having the episode in Ireland didn't

really bother me at all, but the Everglades oddity...

Matt Tracker is bitten by a venomous snake, and

while he recovers, Alex Sektor must lead the

Mast Team to stop Venom's plan of stealing the

NASA Space Shuttle. Okay. Alright. And that part

about the space shuttle, that is so secondary

to the other part of the story. And I did not

expect that. We spent a lot of time with... Matt,

having been bitten by this snake, you know, he's

in the bed. Julio is helping him out and telling

him he needs his rest. And, you know, Alex is

put in charge of the mission. And of course,

Matt isn't going to listen to doctor's orders.

He still has to get involved. But the whole deal

with the space shuttle, even though we lead off

with that with the two kids finding this, you

know, seemingly the space shuttle, In the Everglades,

it's not it really isn't Venom wants to steal

the space shuttle and it's a threat to national

security as Matt says but we don't really Understand

where venom was going to go with with that in

this in this plot as far as I'm aware It just

no is this they don't there. Yeah, they don't

Venom other than stealing the space shuttle they

have no nothing is explained about their plot

of what they're gonna use the space shuttle for

and when they go to when Matt and the team or

Alex and the team go to stop venom it's one of

those things where you know crap it's one of

those things where Whoever stops the shuttle

from going anywhere They take off the bottom

part of the shuttle and then Vanessa crashes

the actual shuttle. So I have no idea We have

no idea what the hell they want it for whatsoever

It's not even explained. Yeah, it isn't explained

I mean that's you know, there are a lot of mysteries

and masks and that's one for the viewers to decipher

because I Watched this episode and I kept wondering,

you know, what's the deal with the space shuttle?

Why does venom want that? You know, why would

they go through all this trouble to have a cardboard

mock -up in the Everglades? Which I don't really

understand why it was there to begin with maybe

it was part of their training or something But

then that doesn't really make sense. I thought

it was it was interesting Going into this episode

and you see the space shuttle or what is supposed

to be the space shuttle in the Everglades and

you're like, oh well, that's that's kind of interesting,

you know, how did how did that get there and

not only You know, how did they get there but

then you're asking Well, why isn't every government

agency trying to track this thing down? Because

obviously if it were missing everyone would be

out looking for it But you know when you get

past that then you're just wondering Why why

is venom after this? And a question never answered

so it's a big plot hole in this episode Yeah,

it very very much is and That's not a good thing

at all. So I think we are gonna hit the high

beams in a moment Computer, recommend personnel

best suited for this mission. Dr. Julio Lopez,

essential to monitor team leader tracker. Vehicle

code name Firefly. turning on the high beams

holy crap everyone stop what you're doing stop

listening to the show and just notice That Matt

is actually spending time with his son! It's

a miracle! It's a fucking miracle! Oh my god,

I love that this episode opens with them flying

planes together. We just had an episode about

warning children to not use lighter fluid. Why

the fuck is T -Bob manning the grill? I know,

I thought the same thing. That's my plane! Looks

well done to me. You fried my plane! Yeah, it

is not okay for robots to grill. No! Not at all.

Especially when the robot's name is T -Bob. Yeah,

pretty much. I love how they made Dagger crash

into the tree. That was awesome. Yeah. Alex and

the fact that he's in charge this time around

it's very cool something He made the team select

very cool and also very dear Having someone else

other than Matt in charge because obviously Matt

is laid up with this venomous snake bite It was

really kind of refreshing honestly I agree. I

like that dynamic, too. Now, it's kind of a low

beam for me as well because I don't feel like

they were able to do enough with it since Matt

didn't stay in bed. He got more involved with

this one than he really should have. If they

had just let Alex be in charge, take control

of the team, and have him be the one to make

the calls that defeated Venom, I think that would

have been really awesome. That would have made

this a standout episode. You know as it was they

basically kind of Pushed him to the back in this

episode and let Matt take all the glory So I

was a bit disappointed that they they didn't

take that a step further yeah the The funniest

thing might be the funniest thing out of this

whole series coming from T Bob. He's driving

Thunderhawk Yeah That might be the coolest thing

outside of the theme song and the original episode

one team meeting that might be the coolest thing

out of this entire series What did you have for

high beams? Well besides Alex being in charge

the other thing I did like as you mentioned with

T Bob that You know He was kind of able to jump

in here and help out Alex and the team by using

his radio to call for help to Thunderhawk So

and then you know, the computer in Thunderhawk

was able to take it from there. So I thought

that was pretty cool Also when the mask members

are being called up we get Julio again in this

episode I do not know what that guy in the karate

garb was doing in the dressing room It was really

odd. Didn't you think? Yeah, I don't know what

the hell that was He just he just steps in the

dressing room and then Julio takes off and the

guy steps back out just like You know wondering

where he went but just like I don't understand

the setting. I don't understand what This guy

is doing, you know, oh, you know what? Maybe

maybe he was in the doctor's office since julia

was a doctor And maybe maybe he'd gotten undressed

and he got oh, yeah. Yeah, that's that's what

it was. Yeah, okay um And it was also kind of

funny when ace gets called he's uh He's got an

apron on and he throws the apron on a on a female

dummy And then has to take off Yeah, that's what

I have for low beams or high beams Yeah, I mean

that Yeah, that That about does it for that one.

Let's go to the low beam. No, you don't You're

suffering double vision partial paralysis and

fever Matt you'd be a danger to yourself and

to the mission the answer is no Well, if I can't

play, I'll coach Julio. Come in, Alex. Sector

here. I used Dragonfly to rendezvous with the

team while you were asleep, Matt. Hope you don't

mind. I get benched and everyone deserts me.

What's your ETA at Cape Canaveral? ETA, 15 minutes,

and we have full clearance to land from the PNA.

There's a prelaunched test run scheduled for

the shuttle this afternoon. Perfect opportunity

for man. all right turning on the low beams uh...

he's a lot matt is allowing them on the mission

seriously worst father ever and it gets worse

later the venomous snake bite will be the downfall

of matt tracker i actually thought he was going

to die in this episode secretly hope more like

it but i actually thought he was going to die

Here's another animation glitch. They shot right

at Rhino's tires, yet they never go flat. No,

Scott, you cannot fly the Thunderhawk. And the

PSA was no running around pools, which that's

a good PSA. I don't mind that one so much. Yeah.

A better PSA, though, might have been to... Pay

attention to your doctor's orders, since Matt

wouldn't do that during the episode. That should

have been the PSA. You know, he was a wreck.

I like that, you know, he got bitten by this

snake. I didn't think that was going to come

into play during the episode, honestly. I mean,

they're out there in the Everglades and this

snake comes along and it does bite him and...

You know, it's poisonous so he ends up spending

a lot of time, you know back at the mansion Before

he decides that he's got to play the hero in

this episode Yeah, but they just they just focused

a lot on that one and I I just didn't really

see what the point of this episode was I mean

it was good in the sense that they were going

to give Alex a shot at leading the team and that

there was some drama and You know whether Matt

was going to pull through or not But we have

this other Plot in the episode that just doesn't

go anywhere and then What kind of cardboard would

would venom use to create this mock -up of the

space shuttle? I mean that'd have to be some

serious cardboard and they did a really good

job because you know Matt and Alex go out there

and they're able to stand up in this thing walk

around in it and It has some rudimentary Gages

and things like that in it, right? I mean, they're

probably just drawn on the cardboard, but It

looks like it's actual size of a space shuttle

and it's out there in the Everglades and all

the heat and humidity it Certainly wouldn't last

very long out there. Oh No, not after opening

the damn hatch twice The the door to go into

it, you know, yeah No, it wouldn't have lasted.

It's just one of those things. This episode,

I liked it better than the other two. I give

it a three out of five. What about you? Okay.

I'm giving this one a one. Just because I didn't

understand what the point of it all was. Yes,

again, it was good seeing... You know that Alex

put in charge and you know, we had some drama

there with wondering what was gonna happen with

Matt but That was that was really the the whole

point driving this episode and there were just

too many things Just kind of thrown into it.

This didn't make any sense Yep, nope, not at

all so we are gonna take a quick break come back

with Final thoughts and other stuff and close

the show after this that has such patsas in it.

You know, kids, a lot has changed while your

old uncle Joker's been away. New Gotham, new

rules, even a new Batman. It isn't 65 years in

the future, but Legends of the Dark Knight has

gone beyond. Batman -beyond, that is. Ah, the

new boy. ears are too long and I missed the cape,

but not too shabby, not too shabby at all. Join

Steve and Mike as they delve into the remaining

episodes of the podcast where they'll cover Batman

Beyond, products, games, and more. Check it out

only on KeycastRadio .com. Pixels in the animation

is the GeekCast Radio Network's video game cartoon

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so tune in to help us find the pixels in the

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on iTunes and www .geekcastradio .com. 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. Alright folks, just to

recap, scores for this episode. I gave the first

episode a 2, the second episode a 1, the third

episode a 3, Tim gave a 4, a 2, and a 1. We can't

even talk about what we're expecting or what

we'd like to see out of this series because as

we stated in the very beginning of this podcast

episode, they're doing almost the same crap over

and over and over again. There is zero character

development for any of the characters. I don't

know. Any thoughts, any final thoughts or anything

you want to talk about here? I like seeing some

of the new characters again. It's too bad they're

not developing those characters more. It is cool

seeing new vehicles because, you know, Even though

the plots aren't aren't the best This show does

deserve some credit for its beautiful animation

and the good Designs on the vehicles and the

models And actually the animation is very fluid

a lot of times, you know They're always going

to have some episodes during a lot of these older

cartoon series where you have like your your

C list or D list animators on it And it's not

gonna look as fluid and as nice But overall,

I think a lot of episodes look good things are

on model and So it does provide for an interesting

series to watch visually But as far as plus we

kind of know what to expect at this point as

you said we're Nearing well, yeah, we're nearing.

Well, that was actually 50 episodes now Yeah,

so, you know, we've only got 15 more episodes

in season one Yeah, yes, and and so we know what

to expect for this season next season. Maybe

they'll change some things I'm hoping so I'm

not expecting leaps in in plots or anything,

but Maybe they'll bring in some new dynamics

do something different to make things a little

more interesting We can hope and honestly I didn't

write any the only reason why this entire podcast

I didn't have any notes about the animation or

the music was because I'm so used to hearing

the musical themes now, you know, Scott and T

-Bob and the general overall, you know, general

overall good guy theme, you know, you have that,

the Venom theme, you have that. Very rarely do

I hear the instrumental version of the Mask theme

when Mask is doing their thing against Venom.

Animation. I'm so consumed with wanting more

about these plots than what they actually are,

than I was to be able to look for animation.

I pointed out that one error about the, about

Rhino's tires, but like, in general, I like the

animation a lot. It's not that I don't. It's

just that I haven't seen anything cool enough

for me to write down a good animation note on

it. Yeah. And even big blockbusters, you know,

they can look great, but that only goes so far

after a while you're just like okay you know

move move along there's there's it looks pretty

but you need story to go along with it and really

honestly i would take something that doesn't

have as good of animation but has a much stronger

story and you're right the i actually was going

to mention that as well as the music in the series

is good of course the theme song is incredible

but even even the series music the different

themes for The teams and all that's all very

good. I think Absolutely, so we are gonna go

ahead and close this one out Because there's

nothing much else to say. Thank you for joining

us here on mass mayhem There are some ways getting

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the Royal Carpet Caper, and the Patchwork Puzzle.

For now, I am TF2 on Mike with Toon Master Tim.

Thank you for listening. Until next time, podcasting

is the ultimate weapon. Illusion is the ultimate

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