Mobile Armored Podcast Show

Miles Mayhem's Giant Holes

• Adam Moore and PJ McNerney • Season 1 • Episode 11

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Writing evil villains is simple. Give them a goal, and a crazy ultimatum if they don't achieve that goal. "Give me all the gold in the world or I'll blow up the moon." That's pretty good, right? In "The Magma Mole", Miles threatens to cause Mt. Fuji to erupt unless... NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. HE NEVER ASKS FOR ANYTHING!!! This -- and many other things -- make Adam and PJ unreasonably angry on this week's episode of the Mobile Armored Podcast Show. Buckle up!

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adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Here we go. Pee Papa ppa. Be bubble. All right, in three, two, one. Welcome to the mobile armored podcast show. The podcast that transforms into a daycare. My name is Adam Moore alongside my co host and best friend, PJ McNerney. PJ school is out. Your kids need a daycare.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. Schools out for summer. Comically a week and a half ago, we had 11 inches of snow up here in the mountains.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And hey, look, if your kids are snowed in during the summer and this goes for anyone out there, really just plop them in front of the computer, give them a pair of headphones and just start running the mobile armor podcast show from episode one. It will keep them company and it is totally appropriate for all ages.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

A it is. Fucking A.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

so we're gonna be diving into Mask Episode 11, The Magma Mole, in which Venom uses a mole machine, I guess that's a thing, to drill into the Earth. Which threatens Tokyo with devastating floods and an eruption of Mount Fuji. Sounds really exciting. The episode itself is far less exciting than that. And uh, one of the things you and I were talking about off the pod was um, if you're writing an episode of Mask, It seems like the basic thing you would want to do would be when you choose which agents are being selected, that you're going to use their mask powers and their mask vehicles at least once in each episode. this is another example of one where there's some folks, like Hondo for example, Who are just there and I wonder as one writer to another like asking out there into to the writers of mask Why wouldn't you just use all the mask powers at least once in the episode? It makes no sense to me.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

We keep running into this and we hit it again today. Where inevitably Venom invents some kind of high technological thing that they're going to use to then extort someone rather than sell it. And it becomes the focus rather than, hey, what about this pitch battle between Venom vehicles, Venom masks, mask vehicles, mask masks.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And that's another big point too, let's say Sly fires Stiletto at Matt, Spectrum doesn't have the ability to shield itself, but Backlash can knock the Stiletto blades back, But we don't see that really happen in any episodes. And then this episode today, Brad wants to use anti matter, to, create a hole in something. And you got Hondo over there with Blaster, like anti matter won't cut it. And Hondo's just sittin there like, what, on his iPhone, Like checkin Instagram or, lookin at some dating app? I don't get it. So anyways, folks, the moral to this little Side track story is not the strongest episode we're about to dive into, but to make things as interesting as possible for me, and I guess possibly for all you, dear listener, is that I have not read the rundown since I wrote the beats of the episode out. Um, With my little comments that I want to make. And then what happens for those who are interested in the process is that then PJ goes through the rundown and he writes out, his color commentary. So I have specifically not read it. I'm in for a treat. Hopefully you all listeners are in for one as well. We open not in Colorado. But with a lovely shot of Mount Fuji and we're up at a Buddhist temple, and Matt, Scott, T Bob, and Bruce are all out seeing the sights of Tokyo. It's a lovely vacation of Scott, T Bob, his father, and maybe his other father? Just enjoying some time in Tokyo. And it's like this montage of shots, set to music, but PJ, at one point, there's this shot of Scott trying to pull T Bob away from a couple of Japanese women in kimonos. Like he's bowing down to them or something. Like what's going on in that

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I, I studied this for a sec. So he's on one knee. And he's blowing kisses at them. Okay. So my two thoughts for this, like one is T Bob like, so taken with these women has been programmed by Alex, I guess, to be attracted to these women in, in kimonos and he's trying to propose to them or. Maybe the more likely one. These women showed the slightest bit of kindness to him. And T Bob is begging to be taken away, as opposed to being part of the monstrous group that is the Tracker Clan.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

going to go for number two

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah, me too.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

We learn that Bruce's ancestors came from this region of Japan. And Matt's response is, I'm sure they wouldn't be happy knowing venom agents have been spotted in the area.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

This is a factually correct statement. it does beg a question though, it's like, shouldn't you be looking for said agents instead of being tourists? 100%.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

in Dinosaur Boy, Alex is out there just taking pictures of lizards. When he's supposed to be monitoring venom activity.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

it's a working vacation constantly for these guys.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Mhmm. Matt and family, and friend, slash co worker, they're on this bridge overlooking a beautiful gorge, there's a tour guide there. And they see a, Japanese priest sitting underneath the waterfall doing some sort of water training. And the tour guide, by the way, in very broken English, explains what's going on. That it's about, discipline training for the monk or the priest. And Scott says, Wow, it's hard work to be a Japanese priest.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

this series of shots. And again, we've seen how quote unquote mask candles, nonwhite cultures. I will say this is probably one of the most culturally sensitive scenes we've seen. It's an amazingly low bar to pass, but they did it. It's like, Hey, and I imagine it's because the animators were like Yeah, I'm not going to animate what the writers wrote I'm just going to, do this in a way that reflects the experience of living here.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Suddenly, a massive wave comes roaring down this canyon. Matt says, that's impossible. Okay. For a man who's seen a lot in his life, it's strange that he thinks this thing is impossible. Everyone starts running back and forth. The tour guide actually, Falls to her knees in prayer, which is the appropriate thing to do in this situation. But notably, Matt just stands there, looking back and forth. Um, And he tells everyone to hold on to the rails. Seems like it would have been smarter to just get off the bridge, right?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I, if you look at the shot, this wave looks hundreds of feet in size. I think they're already dead. It doesn't really matter what you choose to do at this point in time. And by the way, Matt, like of the things you've seen, a tsunami is a real thing. Much more than the star chariot. That's impossible. But a tsunami is real and there's a fun animation note though. I mean, You can kind of tell if you're looking at it, there's a portly white guy that runs from right to left twice in that scene.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

There's actually several shots where people just run back and forth.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I know,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

run to the right and then to the left. It's just choose a direction and run.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

always like those scenes and they're always very cool, you'll see them in Wrath of Khan, or any sci fi that involves some sort of space vessel. People are immediately running back and forth down the corridor, and again, it's fun, it's like, a lot of tension. My question is, why the fuck weren't you at your station in the first place? I felt the same way here. It's like, I'm going to run back and forth because maybe if I move fast enough, the wave will miss me.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

The priest is never seen again, by the way.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

he is unaware the wave is coming. He is swept away from his spot. we all hope he's okay. But he's probably dead.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Well, they all get swept away and somehow survive T Bob hilariously quote unquote says he's never coming to Japan again, and then he opens up his head flap and Pulls out an octopus. How did the octopus get in there?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

My theory is that T Bob actually had stolen that octopus. was trying to smuggle it out of the country. And he was like, you know what? I don't want a reminder of this place now. And he takes the octopus out and returns it Hehehehe. He's I think it's better off with him than with Alex.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

They head off to the uh, the source of the uh, tsunami wave and Matt and Bruce are putting on some futuristic scuba gear to go underwater and investigate. And dude, Matt is like absolutely jacked. He is ripped. It's like sleeveless scuba gear. And the guy is totally jacked. Just non stop working out. And uh, before they dive into the water, Matt puts Scott in charge keeping the boat where it is they go diving. I guess because Scott has proven himself to be quite capable.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Scott has proven many times He cannot be trusted to sit still. I don't understand why Matt thinks this is going to be any different. At some point, Scott's going to be like, I don't know, he's like a goldfish. He's Oh, we got to stop Venom. Come on, let's drive the boat someplace. Yeah. And also T Bob wants a bigger boat because he's getting seasick. Which, once again, what kind of monster is Alex that he would program that into T Bob?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Matt and Bruce dive to a large hole in the bottom of the ocean and realize it must be man made. But there's this intense current that's pushing against them. And just note, this is the current that caused that tsunami initially, right? It's a pretty strong current.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. But I guess, I mean, Bruce and Matt are jacked enough to be able to swim unaided by any mechanical thing to actually like go against that pushback.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

So Matt dives in for a clue, and then he gets shot up into the sky by that same current we're talking about. And it looks like it's lights out for Matt. But he's okay. And he found a clue. Some clue. piece of metal.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Okay. We're going to, we're going to stop by science quarter a couple of times this episode. Okay, as a diving note, when you go down to a certain depth, basically and I don't know all the mechanics of it, but basically when you're breathing the oxygen, there's something where the nitrogen bubbles start to form in your bloodstream, and you have to be very careful when you're returning to the surface to properly make sure that you don't have this thing called the bends, So if you do rapidly return to the surface, it can cause all sorts of joint pain and it's awful. So now Matt, who has been flung the water most certainly would be in pain. As a note, you should not 24 hours of diving because you would exacerbate said condition.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Especially if what you're flying is a Camaro. Well, We cut back to wherever it is they're staying. Some Japanese tea room, it appears. T Bob is lying down, And Scott has an ice pack on T Bob's head, but the ice pack is suspended by a string from a stick that Scott is holding. Does he not want to touch T Bob or something?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I just like, why do his head need an ice pack? was Scott fucking with T Bob who's just like kind of out of commission for the moment. And Scott is so bored out of his fucking skull that he just wants to fish an ice pack on top of T Bobs. I mean, It's just like, it's so bizarre in so many like levels. Yeah. Yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Meanwhile, Matt has that evidence he found, and they're getting it analyzed. It's a rare piece of metal that was recently stolen. We don't know from where. The computer pulls up a surveillance photo and we see that the thief was Sly Rax. But he's not wearing his sunglasses. It's the first time we see Sly without his uh, his sunglasses. Very interesting.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

It is. He actually looks really cogent. So I'm presuming this is the one time Sly is not on peyote. And I, I had this other question though. Apparently they have access to what I thought was probably private, presumably closed circuit cameras illegally. And they have facial detection. If they're going to do this illegally, shouldn't they use that proactively to find out where venom is rather than like constantly doing this retroactively

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Guess what time it is? It's the agent selection scene. And just a general note that Matt and Bruce are both in Japan already.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yes. I want to point out and cause we're, we're going to see something in a moment that is bizarre, but the flight time from Japan to Denver is 11 hours. That means at no point in time in the following sequence, does anyone have to rush?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And maybe Matt and Bruce. Could just give it a go on their own. They're right there. So not only does everyone have to spend 11, let's call it 12 hours to get from wherever they are to Japan, but during that time, what are Matt and Bruce doing? Just sittin around, takin a nap, drinkin tea, goin on another sightseeing tour?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

we're going to find out momentarily what they were doing.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Alright Bruce is first selected by the computer, fortunately,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

It would have been great if Bruce had been in the bathroom when his watch went off and he had to like come rushing out into the same room as Matt. Bruce

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

You had time.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Wash your hands, sir.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Bruce's co dependent partner, Alex Sector, is next. He is sweeping the indoor cage of the saddest looking orangutan you've ever seen. This poor creature looks on the verge of suicide. And Alex's watch goes off. And to add insult to injury, he hands the broom to the ape. And this by the way, all appears to be in the back room of his pet store, where that alligator was earlier. What kind of a monster is this man?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

So I did a little research, orangutans are anywhere from five to seven times stronger than humans, which means this orangutan could have crushed Alex easily if he wanted to. So how much damage did Alex do to break this poor creature's spirit?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

He's truly a monster. He's approaching Hannibal Lecter levels because when he's talking to other people, he's very calm and collected and quite proper and British and seems smart, but behind closed doors when no one is looking, he's torturing animals. Next up Brad Turner. So we find Brad on stage with a bunch of other musicians. Now, he is not front and center, actually. He's one member of some sort of a rock symphony that's being conducted by a very David Byrne looking guy. And he gets the call, and he just kind of sneaks away. And when it comes time for his solo Everyone turns into shocked to see that he's gone. And the conductor is so shocked that he collapses off the podium. So it seems as though Brad's band has finally broken up and now he's sort of resorted to being a guitar for hire for other acts. And this is not surprising at

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I imagine like there was like this like thing. It was like fucking a Brad. There was 30 seconds left to that song and it was yours. It was yours, man. And again we'll find out where Bruce and Matt are or where they're traveling to in a second. There's no need to rush. There really isn't.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

What a strange symphony that is. Anyways, next up, our favorite, Hondo McClain. Now he gets the call, he's in the middle of class and he just tells them, class dismissed, and he runs out. And they all cheer. And I just want to note, that we have never once seen him teaching. Anything. At all.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

No, we've seen him coach,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

I do want to take issue with this note We haven't seen him coach. What we've seen him do is run circles around a bunch of scrawny white kids on a football field and then angrily throw a basketball from half court to the hoop. We've never once actually seen him mentor young people.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Whoa, hold on. No, he's one of those angry coaches that kicks over chairs. Okay. This is not like encouraging coach. he's a, he's JK Simmons. He's a hard ass.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

If we ever saw him actually give any Advice whatsoever to these athletes. I might agree with you, but as it stands, we haven't seen nothing.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

What? He showed them how to run the ball into the end zone and we've shown him how to throw the ball into the basket. That's teachable moments.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Buddy Hawks is called he is under a car, just turning wrenches. He gets the call and then some sort of liquid sprays in his face. And my concern is what is the liquid? It goes right in his eyes. Is it oil? Is it engine coolant? Is it battery acid? Either way, Buddy is not gonna be in good shape for this mission.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I checked this out. It looked either clear or blue. So it was probably either stray water. Or blue coolant. Or possibly windshield wiper fluid. But again, there's no need to rush. Was he just incompetent?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

The final team member, everyone, is Gloria Baker. Champion race car driver, black belt in Kung Fu, Team Hottie. It's a bit unclear what's going on here. There's an old man sitting behind the wheel of what appears to be a taxi. Gloria's kind of leaning in the driver's side window from outside with a charming smile on her face. No idea what's going on there. And then she gets the call. She shoves the guy aside. And then puts her race driving on display and just, races out of there. And for once, she's actually driving to Mask HQ, which seems helpful.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. Most of the time we've seen her leave the car and run away. This time she's entering the car and getting it. The old man is very fucking frightened very scared. He's clearly not gone this fast. I also had a question. what happens to the taxi cab driver when they get to Boulder Hill? Has he seen too much?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Well, He's certainly not going to be able to get his car repaired, Or the gas filled. Because Buddy's gone already.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Buddy will throw stamps at him.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

But that's it. That's the team.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I had one critique there's a lot of water involved in this episode already. Wouldn't it be prudent to add Gator, Dusty, and Shark? Or is the computer weighing out that it's concerned Dusty will say something insulting to the good people of Tokyo? Is that part of the equation here? Like Yeah, Dusty would be clutch, but uh, no.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Gloria's been proven to be able to drive a boat. they could have given her gator.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Or Shark! Give her her own vehicle!

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

The world's not ready for shark PJ.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

So frustrating.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

So what would make sense is they would all grab their vehicles pretty quickly, get on the giant mask jumbo jet and fly to Tokyo. Instead we cut to mask HQ where everyone, including Matt and Bruce are there getting their helmets. So Matt and Bruce flew back to Colorado to get their masks. They're not going to fly with the team all the way back to Japan.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Okay, we're gonna do a travel corner now. We're going to assume best case scenarios again. A nonstop flight from Tokyo to Denver is about 11 hours. Which means that Matt and Bruce called the team from Tokyo to drop what they're doing, get to Boulder Hill, and they're waiting 10 hours, probably. Just so Matt and Bruce can get back for the mask ceremony. And let's assume they were there for about 2 hours. That means that, 11 plus 11 plus 2 24 hours. Did Matt just leave Scott in Japan? Did he tell Scott that he was going to be leaving him in Japan while he went back?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah, he absolutely did. Probably with the Japanese tour guide lady following what Matt usually does with Scott in a given situation. Why would you fly back to Mask HQ? What I will say, I will give The writers, a little bit of the benefit of the doubt. I did look closely at the animation a second time. And I think the idea was that it was only the team members who were called who were getting their masks because they do a shot of Gloria and Hondo and maybe maybe Buddy getting their helmets on in that scene but they just recycled the animation. So that's why we see Matt and Bruce sitting there. I don't want to give them the benefit of the doubt. That's it. Because it's way funnier to think that they flew all the way from Japan. So we're gonna go ahead and go with that. The Masked Team is finally on site in Japan, after what's called 36 hours. Counting for traffic and, sleeping, eating. Bio breaks and what not. And they are now investigating a second hole that was found on satellite surveillance photo. Which is the first time we're hearing about this. And Alex has got this giant ass like detector that he's holding, right? Yeah,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

basically like he's holding a Commodore 64 computer with a monitor and a little radar thing on top of it. It's huge. Endurium!

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

for some brand new element from the periodic table.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I think it's right next to Vibranium and Adamantium on the table.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

but just below unobtainium. they're all hanging out and suddenly, Venom comes out of the hole. And uh, Mask chases them right back in. Uh, Another typical Mask Venom battle that takes place in a hole in the earth. And Brad says it figures, I finally get to see Japan, but it's from inside a hole. Once again, pointing out that Brad is just in it for the fun.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

To be fair, I mean, we did see earlier Bruce and Matt and Scott, taking some the sights in, so maybe he does think it's a vacation.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Sly as he heads back into the tunnel calls to Miles, It's Mask! They found the tunnel! Miles says, then invite them in!

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

maybe Miles is just kind of like pivoting at that point in time as best as possible. But there's all this bifurcation of tunnels that happen, like Piranha goes one way, Jackhammer goes another They kind of keep splitting up repeatedly.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And why are they drilling all these multiple holes right next to each other? It's as if they're setting up for Mask's inevitable arrival, where they have to confuse them underground. Giving more credence, once again, to the fact that this is all a game between Miles and Matt. Now, once again, a Switchblade is flying in a very small tunnel. Which is quite impressive for a helicopter to be it's the smallest tunnel we've seen so far. And Switchblade is doing just fine. But we have your typical Masked Venom battle in the tunnel. Firecracker and Condor split down two tunnels which are both dead ends of equal length.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. There's three tunnels. Firecracker goes one way, Condor goes the other. And then it's like a beat, and then they both like, they both say at the same time, They're dead ends! And then they go down the center one.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Matt and Gloria in Thunderhawk, they almost fall down this this giant hole. They just managed to stop in time, and we revealed that Vanessa Warfield was the one flying Switchblade. And Matt and Gloria seem legitimately shocked that it's Vanessa. And Matt asks, What's going on here? Do you really have to ask that question, Matt?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Is this a bit of misogyny on Matt's part? Wait! A woman piloting a helicopter? Preposterous!

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Suddenly a giant drill machine comes from beneath the earth and crashes right in front of Rhino. What's gonna happen, PJ?

pj_1_05-17-2024_105911:

I don't know what is going to happen.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

will find out after these messages.

Hold on. There's a battle we have to tend to. Be right back. We got them. Now back to the show.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And we are back. And guess what? That drill machine is piloted by miles mayhem who says, say hello to Magma mole. He's good with branding,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I'm really wondering if they tested out different names for magma mole. It's drill beast. It's the mole creature.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

but this is like, you know, Elon boring company only what, 20, 25 years ahead of time, right?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

hundred percent. It's again, like we've invented this multi billion dollar piece of technology. Only to use it for something that's like over the top and elaborate.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

and this is a continuing pattern for miles. These in. inventions, the submarine, the magma mole, that wild tornado thing in the Oz Effect. These are massive inventions that haven't been seen before. And he's using them for his outlandish capers. Clearly, He's just out for pure mayhem, which is his last name. So I guess that makes sense, but sometimes he wants money or the world's biggest pearls or whatever it is that he wants But just sell the tech. Anyways, look. The Magma Mole drives Rhino against the wall of the tunnel, trying to crush it. When Matt first arrives on the scene, his first line is, Look at the size of it! Rather than, Oh no, Bruce and Alex are in trouble. He's just kind of blown away by the size of the Magma Mole. Or he could also have said, We've got to save them. Then Gloria says that basically she'll handle it. And Alex leans out the window of Rhino saying, Gloria, no. You can't possibly repel something that big. But Alex is kind of like leaning outside the window of Rhino. Casually, like it's a summer day. And like, why aren't they trying to get out of Rhino? It's being crushed by a machine that can dig giant holes in the earth with ease.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

It's crazy, but I will say that Rhino is one tough cookie because the only thing that really happens is the window cracks a little bit.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Gloria uses Aura to Magma Mole crashing into the wall. And Mayhem escapes by drilling down into the earth. And Matt says, Where's Mayhem think he's going? China? Which I believe is a Buddy Hawks Award nominee.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. I agree.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

it's also geographically Inaccurate?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. Dramatically. It's dramatically inaccurate and racist. Congratulations, Matt. You're winning on so many fronts. This was an interesting note about Aura. Cause I really paid attention on this one. When Gloria activates it, it actually covers her whole body. Which I think was a grounding effect. Because, every action as an equal and opposite reaction if she's firing that force at Magma mole an equal amount of force would be coming at her head, which would break it But instead it like covers the whole body equally and grounds it So instead that's really getting channeled to the ground, which I thought was cool yeah, and she's on the ground who comes and check checks on her?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

It's not Matt.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah I mean, Matt sees it, but Alex comes over to check on her, and then Matt just goes to the tunnel nearby with Brad, so whatever this game is they have going on continues.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah, they like it rough, they don't respect When they show the effects of being hurt.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yes.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Water comes rushing up through the hole, and they've got to get out of there or else they're all going to drown. We have one mask power that could probably help here though.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah, again, like, why not just have Hondo use Blaster to collapse the rocks to prevent the water from coming out?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

well Yeah, and then just a few moments later, they're trying to get out of there and they're blocked by a giant rock wall. And Brad's like, well, the anti matter ray will take too long to blast through that rock and Matt has to scan with spectrum using sonar to find the right spot to fire and Brad does and they get out, but it's like, why not use blaster? Hondo is right there. He's got the most powerful beam weapon that Mask has, let alone, by the way, all their vehicles all their weapons and they're just turning to Brad being like, hey, use anti matter. Are there masks in vehicles so advanced that sometimes they don't have enough power? Sometimes they're just on the fritz and we don't hear about it? It makes no sense. Come on, writers.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

let's science check this a little bit. Matt claims he used sonar in spectrum to find the right spot, but sonar works by bouncing sound off of stuff and it's great for underwater because sound travels great underwater. But if it was actually using sonar, then he was just bouncing sound off the rock and it would just be like, that's a rock. Now he's probably was using ground penetrating radar, but just remember that that means Matt is both firing and then receiving high powered radiation at his head.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Meanwhile, we are in the office of the Prime Minister of Japan, and Miles is talking to him on a video screen and Miles is says, My message is simple, Mr. Prime Minister, if Japan does not agree to my demands, I shall use my magma mole to make Mount Fuji erupt. And destroyed Tokyo completely. You have 12 hours to make your decision, and he laughs uh, uproariously. Uh, My question there, before getting into anything else is, what are his demands? We never hear the demands. Heh.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah, I had two theories on this. And I think the first one is the demands happened in an off screen preamble in this discussion. My second one, though, that Miles, he's on the older side, he might be having a senior moment. And he actually forgot to tell the Prime Minister his demands. He thinks he told him the demands, but he didn't. and so now they're like, gonna be freaking out saying, what are the demands? Like, you know, What are they? We'll fulfill them. Just what are they?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah, look, man. I have to admit that I'm downright angry, actually, at the writer of this episode. Again, I'm not claiming to be a great writer. I'm certainly passable, I've written a few things, I had a, a, a TV show once upon a time, it was fine, but just as a writer. The simplest thing you do, even in a crappy episode of a show like this, with a Bond villain rip off, you at least say what the demands are. I demand you appoint me the leader of Earth, I demand you give me a billion dollars, I demand you give me the giant crystal to power the laser, whatever it is, give the thing. This is the absolute laziest writing. That I may have ever encountered in my life, but certainly in mask. And I don't apologize for what I just said, because it's just pure laziness. I'm angry for the first time in watching mask on this podcast. I am angry at the people who wrote this episode and now Chuck Lorre, the great Chuck Lorre was a writer on mask. And so I'm going to leave him out of it, because I can't imagine that Chuck had anything to do with this episode. So, Okay, my rant is over,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

No, I'm glad you did it.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Anyways, once Miles signs off after having not told the demands, the Prime Minister of Japan asks, where is Mask? And his aide, in broken

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

says that they are working in the seismic laboratory. And the Buddy Hawks Award nominee goes to whoever voiced this guy? possibly also the writer of the episode, who probably implied in the dialogue that this guy has very broken English.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

It was, and, again, It is so blatant. The right way to do this would be subtitles. And just have the guy speak in Japanese.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Don't make kids read. It's a cartoon, come on. These are American kids. They can't read.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Let's, instead imply basically that anyone foreign speaks in broken English. That's a far better lesson to teach the kids than reading.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Well, we cut to the seismic laboratory. By the way, I'd like to point out, this is the second seismic laboratory we've encountered in the first 11 episodes of this series. A lot of seismic laboratories in the Masked Universe. And Scott explains to T Bob that Japan has lots of little earthquakes all the time. And T Bob says he wants to be taken home. First it's the giant waves, now it's earthquakes. And uh, perhaps T Bob deserves a Buddy Hawks Award Nomination.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Here's the thing. So first off, we know now that Scott and T Bob were in Japan the entire time. So they didn't get taken back home. If they did were, they should have been left back home. And T Bob is concerned about little earthquakes. I'm presuming that Matt never takes him to the West coast, so they'd never go to LA or San Francisco. So I looked at it. This is just T Bob being regionalist rather than being racist per se.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Alright, yeah. That's fine. Matt and Gloria come strolling in to the laboratory. Matt having changed his outfit yet again, and Gloria too. Gloria's wearing like a tank top. Matt's just wearing like a, a short sleeve polo shirt and they're just walking in like coolest cucumbers.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

What happened? Guys, Alex is still wearing his same kind of vest, outfit, but Brad's got a tie on. Got like a pink shirt and a red tie on. He came prepared to do something.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And his sunglasses are off. So, so Sly, no sunglasses. Brad, no sunglasses at all.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. It's kind of amazing. He doesn't say anything this entire scene. And he does look really stiff and out of place. Yeah. he was like, Oh, I want to do more for the team. I'll go to the seismic research center to help as well. And then he's like, playing rock and roll has nothing to do with actual rocks. Like I'm, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing here.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Oh, but also, where are Buddy and Hondo?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

They're offsite seeing they're like, look we're not going to be useful. We're just going to go someplace else.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

It's like Matt assigned Bruce, Alex, and Brad to work at the seismic laboratory. and Gloria and I are going to go. out thing that we uh, need to uh, check out. Buddy and Hunter are like, Cool, we'll come with you, Matt. They're like, Oh no. Glory and I have something very important going on. Not about the mission. Well, It is about the mission. But it's um, uh, Here's a hundred bucks. Go have fun. Well, Bruce says, A whale cannot swim without moving water. And Gloria says, Gee, Bruce, can't you ever give us a break? Which, A, I love the line, and B, this is Gloria's first Buddy Hawks Award

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

it is. And I, I actually thought this actually might be for me, my winner, but we'll see by the time we at the end.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Matt translates for everybody, that what Bruce means is, Magma Mole can't cut through rock Without giving off a seismic wave and Bruce suddenly picks up the wave and he says the whale Perhaps he is coming up to breathe Okay, Bruce. You're carrying the metaphor a bit too far now. We got it.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I thought this was as fuck you to Gloria. Like just to take that whale thing all the way. You should look at this shot though because like it involves Bruce in the foreground and then Alex and Matt behind him in the mid ground and then Brad looking on and his expression is like, I don't understand this, but I just, I need to be included. I think, the breakup of his band is really starting to get to him.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

the Masked Team rolls out to Mount Fuji.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

at first though, all we see is Condor and Thunderhawk taking off. And there was this one shot where like, you know, they're both flying equally and then Thunderhawk kicks its jets on to, to clearly just F you to Condor. Like, Yeah, I can go faster than you, buddy.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And of course, Matt's got Gloria in the passenger seat, so he's just showing off for her. we cut to Venom and we find out that the Prime Minister hasn't gotten back to them. So Miles is going to give Tokyo an earthquake. But um, they need to put more power cells into the Magma Mole. So we spend like a few moments seeing them removing battery packs from a truck. And did I see correctly that one of the Venom henchmen drops a battery pack on the ground? I

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

he totally does. So he takes out a used battery and just unceremoniously drops it.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

We hear the sound effect.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

we do, they make a point of having the sound effect of the canister hitting the ground

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

and here's my question. Has it even been 12 hours yet?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. Good question. Did he forget that he gave him that long? Cause it would be dark out. And if it has been 12 hours, what the fuck has Mask been doing that entire time?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

We know what Matt and Gloria have been doing this entire time. I don't know the rest of the team.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Mask shows up, as they always do, and a battle breaks out. We've got Condor versus Vanessa in Switchblade. We got Firecracker against Jackhammer. Firecracker takes out Jackhammer with the uh, the tire throwing star that can shoot out of the back of the pickup truck. Mask comes in gun blazing, right?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Oh my God. They are not fucking around. Like they, they take out the rock behind the magma mole. Rhino and firecracker are just full out blasting away.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah, and Miles is like, hurry with those power cells, you idiots.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

the henchmen go running, but God, are these people all in something like est at the time where they're able to take such abuse? Because my God These guys, like they're, they got to hop too.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

How about Brad's confidence in this episode, right? he thinks he can go up against Switchblade. He's like, I'll keep Switchblade busy. Matt, you go after the mole. And Matt's like, watch yourself, Brad. She can outfly you in that thing. And Brad's like, outfly me? Get serious. He's got some real moxie today. And also a few episodes ago, he almost killed Gloria. Yeah.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

yeah,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

he's really gotten the confidence back in a big way.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

he's like, I've got to go out in a blaze of glory. Gloria for you. It's the unrequited love.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

he knows whatever Matt and Gloria were doing. Well, He was stuck with the boys, the child and the robot in the seismic lab The Magma Mole goes into the mountain and Matt jumps out of Thunderhawk and lands on top of the mole while Gloria takes over Thunderhawk.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Little unspoken use of spectrum hang letter here because there is that glow that happens around Matt as he's falling to the magma mole.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

I guess we're meant by episode 11 to understand that Spectrum can do whatever it wants to do. Except blast holes in rock walls. At least this time. And Matt and Miles have this really cool battle on the outside of Magma Mole. Miles sets it into automatic and he jumps off the mole. So now it's Matt jumps into the controls of Magma Mole trying to figure out how he's going to stop this thing.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah, a couple things here. So he sent the mole on the suicide run and he states when it hits molten magma, it will release the biggest volcano in history. Let's once again return to Science Corner for a second to check on this. Volcanoes occur because the pressure underneath gets to be so much it has to be released up or it just keeps forming like until it blows magma mole is hitting it from the side. actually, what this might do is prevent a horrible eruption, especially since like, we've kind of established that these tunnels go to the water anyway. So it's likely that it's actually just going to like cause. The magma pressure to go down and then get cooled, probably preventing Mount Fuji from erupting for another, several hundred years.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Also, during the battle on the Magma Mole, when Miles activates the Viper power, he says, sniper mask fire, right?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. it's weird.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Again, this writing is so lazy in the episode, Not only should you at least use each mask that's in the episode once, not only should you give the villains demands, but just look at the show bible and read what the line is when a character is going to use their power! Ugh, if I could just have gone back into time in 1985 and been a writer, boy. That was some great episodes of Mask, everyone. But, I digress. There's a cool battle between Switchblade and Condor. Vanessa is actually about to destroy Condor.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

When Miles pulls out the biggest remote control you have ever seen, and remote controls Switchblade to land and pick him up. He probably just could have called Vanessa, and Vanessa could have said, Give me ten seconds, I'm about to blow up Condor, and then I'll come get you. But instead, Miles just pulls out the remote, and has Switchblade fly and pick him up.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Clear misogyny here. I think we've actually showcased again, Hondo, who I wanna talk about in a second in this episode. He is the most capable and most competent mask agent. Vanessa has been proving to be the most competent venom agent. She's exceptionally capable and, seems to be about to like, to do people in repeatedly and is screwed up by her male counterparts on the team.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

would have been a great time for Condor to turn around and shoot Switchblade, maybe?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Like, Brad, the fuck, man?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Miles is escaping, he says to the mask agents, Say goodbye to your fearless leader. He's on his way to the center of the Earth. Does Miles understand at all? None of them do. He just likes to say cool lines with dramatic flair. That's his Yeah, We cut to Matt, and he's inside Magnum Bowl, and it's starting to heat up. He's trying to stop it. Nothing will work. He's starting to overheat. It doesn't look good for Matt. What's gonna happen, PJ?

pj_1_05-17-2024_105911:

I don't know what is going to happen.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

We'll let you know after these messages.

Mask will be right back, and so will Venom. Now back to math.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And we're back. When we left you, Matt was about to overheat and die inside Magnum Ball as it was headed towards the quote unquote center of the earth. Bruce tells Matt, perhaps the wind can do what the hammer cannot. Bruce, this is not the time for your poetry. Just say it straight, man. And uh, Matt says. Ultrasonic Vibration, which for me is a nominee for Matt's Leap of Logic of the episode award because I don't even know what he's talking about here.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I'm going to ask this again in a couple minutes, but where's Hondo? Everyone else is there, but Hondo and in fact, we haven't seen him since actually the prior battle.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

The only thing Hondo has done, assuming it was him, was fire the rear tire, spinning wheel

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Jackhammer earlier. That seems to be all he's done in the episode. Matt uses spectrum to vibrate the Magma Mole until it stops working. But he's still overheating. And by the way, he's over a mile and a half down.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

yeah.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

That's not good.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

It is not. I will say that Spectrum's ability to work with any kind of EM signal is astounding.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Matt says, I sure could use an air conditioner. You could probably use a lot of things. Like being rescued?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Oh,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Penetrator. And Matt says, don't bother, buddy. Penetrator doesn't have enough power to go through that much rock. Okay well, been nice knowing ya. Guess we'll need a new leader.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I love the line though that Buddy uses because he specifically says, I'll get Let's say you're a parent that walks into this episode just to this moment and you see a bunch of men in masks hanging about and one of them says, I'll get him with the penetrator. What are you going to think?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

That's what Matt said to Gloria a few scenes ago.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

And here's another question I had. We've established that this magma mole creates tunnels, right?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

So there's a tunnel there. Why do you need to use penetrator?

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

I know. There's no more direct way to get to the Magma Mall than via the tunnel it just carved.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

and we've seen Condor be able to go at Mach one on the ground.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Right. clearly, for no reason whatsoever, But he uses Penetrator on Firecracker, and he gets down there. So he actually uses the masked power on the entire vehicle itself to pass through the walls to go save Matt.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

look I know we established that they don't need to, they can just drive through. You could have maybe said, hey, the most direct route is via penetrator and that's what you have to use, but he did have to actually hook the mask up to the vehicle for extra power. that was cool. That was a nice little world building bit right there. And He has to make sure it's exact or he's going to incorporate within rock. So Alex makes the note of that, which is also, good point. You don't want to use a transporter beam and beam in the middle of us, like. so we've established this thing's really hot, and it's metal. Buddy opens the hatch with his bare hands.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

He must have a hidden strength that has not been shown so far in the series.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

And heat resistance.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

But then they exit from the tunnel, right? Yeah.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yes, still using penetrator though.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Maybe just as a flex.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Maybe, I guess so.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

They get out of the tunnel and Matt and Buddy climb out and when Gloria sees Matt alive, she rips off her helmet, runs to him, Grabbing his hands. Like, She definitely stops short of a hug. Definitely stops short of a kiss. Knowing the company she's in. Maybe they don't want to give anything away, but They are in love, dammit. Can't you see, PJ? These two kids are in Madly in love.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I did want to point out something though. These people are in full body jumpsuits, so I have to imagine they sweat a lot. And Matt was in an oven just a second ago, so he must have lost about five pounds via sweat. He must stink up the wazoo. So that's kind of why I thought Gloria might just stop short of hugging him. It was just kind of like, Matt, oh, ooh, okay. I'm going to hold your hands now at this somewhat uncomfortable distance.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

let's get to the big question. Where is Hondo?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah, this was frustrating to be honest, because I kept looking to try and see him. He's not in the last shot where they all greet Matt. So he's like missing from the second half of this episode. And he's, he's clearly in the first battle. It's like, let's slow this fellow down. They fire some shots at him. I'm just wondering, did they forget to animate him? And like, yeah, he could have used once again, blaster to carve through the rock.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

I mean, we've Been over the laziness in this episode and I have another note coming up about it, if the animators are using the script as their guide for animating the episode, then again, it's just. Lazy writing. It's lazy writing, and it's a lack of continuity on the animator's side, just to remember oh yeah, Bruce, needs to be in there. But, the handful of times I've written any animation, and I mean a handful of times the one guidance I received was, make sure in your action description, You write absolutely everything that needs to appear in the shot. Because the animation is going to be done overseas. And there could be things lost in translation. So just simply like, these seven characters, and put the name of the characters in the action description. I know it's going to seem a little clunky. It's not very poetic. But just do it that way, so the animators know what to do. So another example of probably lazy writing, and just not putting Hondo in the action description. But Everyone's Fine now Matt and Gloria are in love, and we end on a shot of Mount Fuji, tall and firm, just like Matt's.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Penetrator. ha ha ha ha ha!

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Oh,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Lord. Ha

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

a train goes through a tunnel. Heh heh heh. Well, We got to the more you know. And they are uh, out at the water where, by the way, that, like that hole in the ocean is spurting up a giant, Unsafe saltwater geyser. And T Bob wants Scott to dive off a rock, but Scott doesn't know it's deep enough. And okay, I am, I have had it with this writer. I've had it with you. You did the exact same lesson just a handful of episodes ago. This is an episode 55 where it's possible to maybe have forgotten that you did the lesson. This is episode 11. You did it less than a dozen episodes ago. It is the same. Exact. Lesson. You are the laziest writer I've ever seen. And on behalf of all writers, of all types of media, all around the world, I say to you, how dare you, sir? How dare you call yourself a writer? So that's it. I've I'm done with him and I'm done with this episode.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Here's the deal. They do these episodes in, 65 episode seasons because they need to fill in for Every weekday, then this is episode 11. So if you start it on a Monday, this is happening two weeks later. There is not enough time to animate or reanimate basically based on something that happened on episode three or four.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

And just because this aired as episode 11 doesn't mean it was written and animated as number 11 It could have come before the other one where they're judging the depth of the water. So I'll give them a little credit,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

no, I think your anger can remain because they had to write this. They had to have a script before they had the animation. I'm actually gonna reinforce your anger because clearly like, The person kept getting many details wrong, like they screwed up the mask, were missing Hondo, didn't check prior episodes for the lesson. There's a repetition of laziness here.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

and I don't know where to find the actual writers and the Credits of the show for the listeners who stick around for the credits of each episode of mask, it just says like staff writers. It's a big list of names, about a dozen or so more names Maybe if I bothered to do some real research on the show, which clearly I don't

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I do want to point out that Matt checks if it's deep enough to dive into by diving into the water. Before he was able to eyeball it in that previous episodes, like that's nine feet. And this time he actually jumps into the water, like full backflip. And I will say that T Bob's note is like, Hey, jump off the rock. I'll take your picture. So I think the underlying lesson here is actually don't listen to robots. They're trying to kill us, especially when we call them soulless automatons that have no life within them.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Yeah. The number of times that Scott has told T Bob he's not alive. T Pop's like, let's see how you like it when you're not alive. Okay our Buddy Hawks award winner of the episode, who's your awardee?

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

I mean, I'm going with Gloria. I mean, She's fitting into a very familiar pattern where we have the winner be someone who just keeps willfully misunderstanding. Bruce. And I'll say this much, for an episode that dances in a foreign culture certainly there's many voice actors and writers that could get it. But not a lot of the characters within basically,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

yeah, you're right, and on that note then, we have the nominee of whoever wrote the broken English assistant to the prime minister. as a nominee. But considering your criteria for it, it's either Matt saying, where's he trying to dig to, China? Or Gloria saying, gee, Bruce, can't you ever give us a break? And I think I agree with you. I'm going to go with Gloria mostly just because I love the offhandedly ignorant way she says it.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

That's a great, I mean, it's a great reading of it.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

She's as fed up with Bruce as I am with the writer of the episode when she says that line. Coming up next is Mask Episode 12, Solaria Park. Venom hides a heat ray weapon in an amusement park.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

Yeah. So I happened to watch this episode recently and here's my challenge to you, Adam.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Okay, great.

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

need you to explain to me the more, you know, lesson at the end of that episode.

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

Okay. Great. I'm looking forward to it. I love these challenges because, as the listeners know by now, I don't watch the episode until I'm writing the rundown the week before we record the episode. Uh, I mean, I watched them all when I was a kid, multiple times, but I have a very bad memory of those. Maybe from all the childhood trauma I've tried to force down. But anyways, at this point uh, this podcast has got to transform and head back to HQ. Thanks to all our listeners for all your support online. We're loving seeing more and more uh, downloads find us on Instagram at mask podcast, m. a. s. k podcast on Instagram keep on sending the love but uh, for now I'm Adam Moore,

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

And I'm PJ McNerney,

adam_1_05-24-2024_100743:

buh bye

pj_1_05-24-2024_110743:

buh bye.

​The mobile armored podcast show is written, produced and edited. Bye Adam Moore. And PJ McNerney.