Oscar Bensol does double duty in this episode, writing both stories.
Tusky is out playing, but is attacked by a Gill-man (looks a lot like the Creature from the Black Lagoon). The AquaDuo hear his barking (underwater?) and give chase. Aquaman drops a shell on his head and then calls in octopi to help out. Turns out the Gill-man is actually looking for the Sea King, as his people need help. A Mastodon-man is attacking his village. The Mastodon-man (think of a huge grey bear with an elephant head) grabs another Gill-man) and Aquaman does the hard water ball bit. Our heroes get trapped in a hut and are about to be crushed when Tusky bites the monster to distract him.
Aquaman calls in more fish troops and they lead the monster away from the village. The monster is after Tusky--he sucks him in with his snout and crashes his first into Aqualad, then sends a water stream that forces the teen onto the rocks. They jump into a crevice, and Aquaman throws a rock into the monster's snout. The rock is then sent at the village, and Aquaman has to do the spinning bit to knock it away. Aqualad doesn't follow orders (as usual) and gets caught again. The Sea King calls in a hammerhead and whales to drag the Mastodon-man away, while Aquaman saves his sidekick from stalagmites (again--underwater?). The monster is dropped in a convenient hole, and Tusky plays dressup to finish us out.
Some things to look for:
- Aquaman's nickname for Aqualad count: Tadpole (40)
- Aqualad catchphrase attempts: Galloping Guppies, Suffering Sea Cows
- There's a lot of "-man" references in this story
- Why huts for the village--does that make sense underwater?
- Aquman casually mentions an "underground sea" where the Mastodon-man will be deposited. Hope there's no hut-based villages there.
- Frankly, this whole episode is like a fever dream
In the second story, our heroes are off to pick up some phosphorous (apparently, that's the light source for Atlantis). The Sea King warns Aqualad how dangerous it is to the touch, so they get the rock in a net and drag it between their sea horse steeds through steep canyons. Tusky is playing as usual and gets lost. A submarine with three "Bulks" (large mutant goons) and the Sea Scamp (WORST VILLAIN NAME EVER) watch Tusky and use an "animator beam" to trap him in kelp. Our heroes notice that Tusky is gone and go to find him. Aquaman calls in thresher sharks to cut him out. The Sea Scamp is not happy and decides to animate some coral that knocks out Aqualad. The fish army is called in, but it's hard to fight coral. Bull sharks knock a boulder on it and take it out.
So, the Sea Scamp animates the phosphorous into a monster (you knew this was coming). They can't touch it, so it's back to the canyons. Aquaman realizes that phosphorous is flammable, so he calls in some Star Gazers (Wikipedia confirms it's a real fish) to electrify and blow it up. The Sea Scamp runs his ship and his Bulks at our heroes, which doesn't do much good, so he tries to escape. Bull whales and sharks disable his ship, and it blows up and crashes. Tusky finds the Sea Scamp, and Aquaman decides to take him to Atlantis where he can invent good things instead of bad. They grab some more phosphorous and head for home.
Some things to look for:
- Aquaman's nickname for Aqualad count: Tadpole (42), Minnow (8)
- Aqualad catchphrase attempts: Slithering Seaweed, Flipping Flounders
- Since phosphorous is dangerous to the touch, isn't it a bad idea to stand around underwater near a huge cache of it?
- We see the common animation device for glowing objects--switching back and forth quickly between white and yellow.
- Why go through the underwater canyon--just go over it?
- Does anyone it makes sense to drop a villain into Atlantis and just hope he turns good?
Remember, you can play along by watching the show on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, or VUDU. You can also buy the DVD on Amazon.