Difference between revisions of "Race Against Danger"

Revision as of 02:30, 25 May 2007

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
"Race Against Danger"
Episode no.	H00616-94052
Airdate	December 16, 1996
Chief locations	South Sea Island - 164.83E, 12.37S (7,590 miles)
Vehicle(s)	Dragonfly Jet
Writer(s)	Lance Falk
Guest roles	Greg Burson (Corbin / Sanderson) Nick Chinlund (Temple) David Fennoy (Clark / Guard) Julian Sands (Kreed)
Episode sequence	Bloodlines <--> The Dark Mountain
Other episodes

Race Bannon and the team visit Intelligence One training grounds to survey new cloaking mask technology. But when an old enemy of Race shows up, Jonny and Race must run the obstacle course to fight for their lives.

Plot Summary

Act One

Two Intelligence One agents emerge from the sea to race through an obstacle course in hopes of beating Race Bannon's record time. Trees and roots begin firing lasers and snagging them, much to their surprise and peril. One cadet falls into a pit beneath the false cover of grass, while the other is killed by four roots. The operator of the testing grounds regrets that they did not make it very far, but hopes to see better from Race. The obstacle course is then revealed to be a futuristic mesh of mechanical parts and weapons. Some time later, the Quest team without Jessie travels to the course, shown to be set on a small island in the ocean near Australia. Agent Phil Corbin demonstrates to the team the island's holographic capabilities, performed through a "cloaking mask" which can change the landscape's appearance. Dr. Quest is amazed, though Race is worried about the technology's ability to hide entire armies. Corbin soon states that the effect is possible thanks to Dr. Quest's quantum optical research, which allowed "your" American scientists to develop it. The team catch the strange wording, and are soon gassed by Corbin, who exposes the observing generals and his own appearance as a hologram. Standing in his place is Lucius Kreed, an old enemy of Race.

Jonny and Race wake up tied together by metallic wristbands. Race explains that he first encountered Kreed on his first field mission twelve years ago in Greenland. Race and his mentor, Greg Temple, were assigned to take the villain down, as he dealt in arms, stolen technology, and other vice—earning Race's designation, "the Renaissance man of scum." Just as Kreed seals a deal with Dr. Zin, Race and Greg blow open the door to his chamber and begin a firefight. Stray bullets cause a fire to quickly spread, and also pierce the gas canisters. Kreed breathes in nerve gas while Greg is blocked from exiting by falling pieces of the roof; he tells Race to escape as Kreed makes one final physical assault. Back on the beach, Kreed appears in the form of a hologram and relates that he personally commandeered the island and aims to sell the technology. Declaring that a good demonstration video is needed, he shows footage of agents Clark and Hill from the previous night to Race's disgust. Race correctly guesses that they must complete the course or else Dr. Quest and Hadji will be harmed. Kreed then removes their restraints; they quickly enter the training grounds.

Act Two

Jonny soon falls into the pit, but Race catches him. Noticing what appear to be bamboo spikes, Jonny unscrews two with his feet to find metal spikes which they later carry. Their trek takes them into the same vines that killed Hill; remembering the metal noises from Kreed's footage, Jonny pierces the tree of their origin with his spike. This destroys the vines' control mechanism. Before they can rest, flamethrowers force them to run at breakneck pace to escape. Race hurls his spike like a javelin into the base of the flame tree, damaging the entire area's cloak circuitry in the process. They continue through a machine gun booby-trapped tunnel while Dr. Quest and Hadji struggle to find a way out of their prison. Hadji locates a vent which is just large enough for Bandit to pass through. Meanwhile, Race and Jonny enter a rocky, desert landscape, housing the original climbing tower. As they near the top, the cloaking technology deactivates, and a piece of the metallic island below opens to reveal spikes. Lasers begin shooting out of all the footholds in the tower; Jonny and Race frantically struggle to reach the top as the lasers crumble part of the outcropping. They find a rope connected to a snowy region far below; Jonny suggests they shimmy down. Race is aware of the danger posed to them as slow moving targets, and uses their wristband to quickly slide down the rope.

A laser cannon breaks the rope, leading to a rough landing. As Kreed curses Jonny for actually proving useful to Race, Hadji informs the prison guard that Bandit is loose. As he gets up to catch the dog, Hadji declares that Benton is now gone as well. The goon enters the room with his gun drawn, and is quickly knocked out by double-fisted blows from both Hadji and Dr. Quest (who curse his thick skull afterwards). Dr. Quest enters the computer mainframe, discovering that the island is powered by a fusion reactor. Though he can't shut the illusion down from that area, he has an idea. Race and Jonny are also struck by inspiration, and break the wristband by allowing an image of Kreed to fire upon it. Down the ice cavern they find what appears to be Corbin beneath a spiked ceiling of ice. Race nearly tries to rescue him, but Jonny throws debris at the agent, which results in a metallic clank. Kreed laughs as tentacles erupt from the illusion's body. At the other end, Jonny and Race find Benton and Hadji, who note they've escaped but that Bandit didn't make it. Leg shackles erupt from the floor as Dr. Quest and Hadji's faces open to reveal machine guns.

Kreed watches as the two adventurers are apparently gunned down. He turns off the monitor, but as he exits the control station he is punched and knocked back by Race. The entire team follows him in. Dr. Quest boasts that he sent misinformation to the cloaking mask, creating illusions of Jonny and Race while Hadji led the genuine articles away from the obstacle course. Race then declares that only one person called him "Racer", and smashes the control station's keyboard—melting away the hologram of Kreed to show Greg Temple, his old partner. Temple apparently assumed Kreed's identity upon his death and enjoyed the power and wealth afforded by his position. Race speculates that the nerve gas warped his mind, and Temple responds with violence. He activates the island's self-destruct sequence and disappears down an escape hatch; the team flee in the Dragonfly Jet. Temple then deactivates the sequence, but his gloating is cut short by the island's still-active gunfire. He drops the destruct remote as he dies, reactivating the sequence. Race arms the jet's electromagnetic pulse countermeasures and flies away from the nuclear blast.

Notes

Quotes

• Race - "Let me guess. We have to run your little maze of death or you'll hurt Hadji and the Doc. Am I in the ballpark?"
• Kreed - "A home run, mister Bannon."

~

• Race - "Jonny, you can be my handicap any time."

~

• Hadji - "I am sorry to disturb you Mr. Goon, but would you please return our dog?"

~

• Race - "Why did you do it, Greg?"
• Temple - "Why do you think, you overgrown Boy Scout? The excitement; the thrills; all that money!"

Goofs

• Jonny should at least receive a mild shock from plunging a metal spike into a component of a massive metallic grid (complete with electricity effects).

Trivia

• Kreed is shown doing business twelve years ago with Dr. Zin, complete with hair and a younger voice. Zin was purchasing experimental nerve gas.
• Race earned his nickname through quick obstacle course runs.
• Despite knowing him for a few years, Jonny never learned Race's real name until this chain of events.
• Hadji gets his jewel back in the turban starting with this episode. Finding a suitable replacement for the last one wasn't tough as Sultan, apparently!
• The first view of the Dragonfly's cockpit resembles the setup of the characters in the classic series's famous opening.
• The Questworld teaser depicts the deletion of a "Saturn" file.

From: Episodes