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Episode Summary
Written
by J. Cole Weston
Overlord
has managed to recover the shuttle engine from the crashed
space shuttle he took on his flight to zone the world and
is plotting to use it to finish the job.
Episode
Notes
Written
by J. Cole Weston In
depth: A noise is causing panic in New York, while the Zone
Riders practice climbing. An alert from McFarland and Laurence
sends them to the command center. Overlord appears to have
repaired the crashed shuttle engine into another shuttle in
New Jersey. If successful, he could zone the rest of the world.
Dr. Omar, the developer of the engine and shuttle is piloting
the crawler.
A
photo of the launchpad is sent to Eagle to show the fortifications.
They can't destroy the shuttle, so they'll have to destroy
the engine. The Zone Riders head into the Zone and to the
New York Central Library. They are pinned inside by Zoners.
Hiro uses his laser lariat to get to another building. Hiro
and Courage then place charges in the tall building to box
in Overlord.
Meanwhile
the rest of the Zone Riders set charges in the library and
escape, waiting on the transport. Right on time they bring
down the building, blocking Overlord. Hiro then blows another
bridge, diverting Overlord toward Max and Tank who are setting
charges on one last bridge. Tank who is trapped on the bridge
hits the remote to detonate.
Max
goes looking for Tank on the waterfront and under the surface.
Max finds him still trapped in debris but frees him to rise
to the surface. Overlord has a surprise for the Zone Riders
however - the barge floats, thus crossing the river with the
engine. Max and Tank give chase to destroy the engine. Courage
plots to divert Overlord to a field, which they manage to
do. Courage then blasts the dam which floods the field, trapping
thre barge. Combat breaks out between Zone Riders and Black
Widows. Hiro meanwhile goes to plant a charge on the New Jersey
shuttle complex generator, and destroys it. The Zone recedes
and Dr. Omar emerges from the crawler vehicle. Through various
commando means, the Riders defeat each of the Black Widows.
Overlord decides if they can't win, he'll destroy the shuttle
anyway, to keep it out of Zone Rider hands. The Black Widows
then retreat into the Zone once more. It will take five years
to replace the shuttle, unfortunately. Items
Noticed: Hiro takes point in diamond formation as usual.
A
nice effort is made to establish the use of the laser lariats
early, so we don't just go "Where did that come from?"
when Hiro uses it in this episode.
Max's
Zone Runner backpack has yet another improbable water mode,
much like the Cycles, Sledge Hammer tanks and Bull Whip cannon.
Another
of Hiro's handy devices is a holo-map, which projects views
of maps wherever they need them.
Zoners
are established by military rank structure to make them easier
to command, as we see by all Zoners over the rank of Corporal
being sent to reinforce the Zone where Hiro is.
Full
Zone recovery from the effects of long term zoning takes around
48 hours to remove all lingering effects/skin lesions.
Notes:
Dr. Laurence sends an SPRC Robocam to investigate the noise.
In
one of the better animated scenes, we note that as Courage
gives the approval to Hiro to escape to the building, the
animator depict the glass over Courage's face - so many times
in the series it was confusing as a kid, as it didn't look
like his helmet was enclosed.
M.C.C.
once more makes a habit of using the Star Trek: TOS bridge
noises for background, as was the habit of many animated shows.
In another episode, a Star Wars engine sound is utilized.
What
do we learn? At last we know what's in Dirk Courage's left
hand blue pouch on his armor - a laser repelling rope known
as a laser lariat.
A
flashing red light accompanied by a high pitched repeating
siren is a Code 1 Alert.
Dr.
Manfred Omar, developer of the Space Shuttle engine and orbiter,
was a childhood friend of Dr. Laurence's before the SPIRAL
ZONE attack.
Zone
Spores destroy paper products with prolonged exposure, especially
books.
Goof
ups: Dr. Laurence uses another ground based surveillance robot.
Razorback destroys it again for the second time in the series.
Duchess
Dire's net rocket misfires into the air, but when the net
comes down, her rocket is still in place.
Quotable
Quotes: "War touches us all." - General McFarland
"We've got to get to the library. Hit it!" - Dirk
Courage (One can only imagine him driving to the grocery store.
"We're out of ham! Hit it!")
"Tank, hold them off!" - Dirk Courage
"Ja, I didn't come in here to read!" - Tank
"This will be some ride!" - Tank, while blowing
up a bridge he is on
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