M.A.S.K. Episode 26 "Secret of the Andes"
Episode 26 "Secret of the Andes"
AIR DATE: Nov 4, 1985
PLOT: M.A.S.K. must protect a revived Incan priest from VENOM, who has been frozen in ice. Found in the Andes mountains, the priest shares he may know the secret location of the famous city of gold named El Dorado.
Characters: (M.A.S.K.) Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Brad Turner, Scott & T-Bob (V.E.N.O.M.) Miles Mayhem, Sly Rax, Vanessa Warfield, Cliff Dagger
Vehicles: (M.A.S.K.) Thunderhawk, Condor (V.E.N.O.M.) Switchblade, Piranha, Manta
Characters: (M.A.S.K.) Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Brad Turner, Scott & T-Bob (V.E.N.O.M.) Miles Mayhem, Sly Rax, Vanessa Warfield, Cliff Dagger
Vehicles: (M.A.S.K.) Thunderhawk, Condor (V.E.N.O.M.) Switchblade, Piranha, Manta
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Reactions
3 Comments
Strap yourself in, this is a long one…
ReplyDeleteSo, this episode was a bit of a mess for me. While I understand M.A.S.K. is a fictional cartoon intended for children, the glaring problems with 'Secret of the Andes' are overwhelming. This episode should have been called: 'The Secret of Walking Around A Lot'. It seems like 80% of this episode is just spent hiking around the Andes mountains. I'd also love to know how an ancient Incan priest speaks English and has no problems with waking up in the far future. And how exactly did VENOM find out that Tupac was brought back? or that he might know where El Dorado is?
The plot holes kind of just go on. There's hardly any cool mask usage; Vanessa uses whip a couple times and we are 'treated' to Spectrum Hang-glider, even as a kid that was kind of lame. The final battle scene is really short and somehow Mayhem an accomplished pilot is taken out by Bruce's very first shot from Thunderhawk. I guess they ran out of time after all that walking around.
M.A.S.K. has had a varied level of animation quality throughout the series, but this might be one of the worst. The scene where Tupac and T-Bob roll boulders on the bridge is so bad it's jarring. Also, at the end of the episode, when Scott is packing up his suitcase the animators made a HUGE screw up and didn't paint in all of his torso. Scott's body literally cuts off around mid chest.
Finally, the PSA. While I have no problem encouraging safety with power and electricity, the idea that Scott Trakker needs to be told about overloading a fuse is ridiculous. Scott built T-Bob and has been shown doing tons of complex mechanical and electrical work on the show. How can he POSSIBLY not know about overloading a fuse? It would have been much better to show Dusty plugging in too many pizza cookers or something. Or maybe they should have just remembered to make Scott wear a helmet during the episode when he's flying on Condor with Brad. A teenager riding a motorcycle helicopter in a combat zone without even a helmet? Good job network…
Ok, all done with the bad. Here's the little bit of good. M.A.S.K. continues to be a show empowering females. In fact, Vanessa is the only VENOM agent that seemed to have any idea what was going on this whole episode. While the animation was mostly poor, there were some very cool shots of Condor flying around. Also, the whole bit about T-Bob being an ancient god was actually pretty amusing and made me chuckle a few times. And of course, every time I watch this episode I bust a gut laughing when I hear they say 'Tupac' and I imagine the rapper running around with T-Bob instead of that thawed out priest.
I'm clicking the 2 button on the poll. It would probably be a 1 if not for the great shots of Condor flying around and for the hilariousness of hearing Scott talk about Tupac.
Here's a screenshot of the animation goof:
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/44Fi1dm.png
Very informative post! Secret of the Andes is a 1999 Argentine family fantasy adventure film. Directed by Alejandro Azzano, it stars Roshan Seth as a powerful shaman, Camilla Belle as a young girl with unusual gifts, David Keith as her archaeologist father, Nancy Allen as her mother and John Rhys-Davies as a Catholic priest. Very nice movie.
ReplyDelete