The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Four

Back in the 90s, no other cartoon show grabbed my attention like Mighty Max.  It was short-lived and doesn't have the same staying power of programs like Animaniacs or Gargoyles, but it will always have a special place for me because of how it managed to explore the world, face fantastic creatures, and have a (to a kid in the 90s) sharp sense of humor.  In much the same way Spider-Man would joke his way through combat to hide his fear, I imagined myself in the place of Max (perhaps with a single t-shirt in my wardrobe that read "E"), facing danger and laughing the whole way through.

Let's look at the fourth episode of the series that so far seems to have continuity like the Swiss have cheese and see if we can't figure out a bit more about this world.

You know, I see that and it just seems more "goofy" than "scary" to me.  Maybe it's the bizarrely shaped nasal passage or the fact that the front teeth seem to be completely pointless compared to the fangs.  I'm not sure.

The episode begins in what I can only describe as "a medieval castle converted into a prison."  It could easily be somewhere like Latveria, because it has a prisoner with a ridiculously long beard who gets taken away by some horrible shadow attached to a pair of huge legs.

I'm...gonna go ahead and assume we never see this guy again either, considering his please of "Noooooo!"

Current Casualties: 3

Meanwhile, in Istanbul (not Constantinople), Max and his mother are shopping at the local bazaar, and I gotta say, maybe it's the 90's hair, but Max's mom has got it going on.

Why hello, Max, good to see you.  Oh, is this your older sister?  Your mother?  Oh, you must be kidding me.

...anyway, funky orange vest and blue turtleneck aside, the other important thing here is that apparently Max's mother also knows about Virgil and Norman (and presumably the whole "mighty one" deal) and has absolutely no problem with it.  In fact, when Virgil and Norman just happen to show up and say that Virgil had a sudden sense that Max would need their help, her response is to grab Virgil and have him try to identify some pottery.

Okay, maybe not "mom of the year" but she can afford to vacation in Turkey, so she's doing something right.

Of course, while Virgil and "Mom" are absent, a misunderstanding over whether or not Max stole a hat from a booth (despite the fact that his clearly states "M" on it when none of the other ones do) leads to them being arrested.

I feel compelled to draw attention to the two cops lying down on the roof top.  First off, who brings a gun that requires lying down to a bust in a market?  Secondly, those aren't even guns.  Those are hot glue guns that are apparently belt-fed and sit on tiny three-pronged feet.

Virgil and "Mom" arrive in time to learn that Norman and Max have been taken to Turkish Prison (read: castle converted to prison up on hill) and that the shopkeeper has already sold the hat Max was accused of stealing.  Norman's going to be stuck alone protecting Max while the other two attempt to get the hat back.

Max and Norman get comfy in Turkish prison while his mother and Virgil go door to door, but their sleep is disturbed when a giant lumbering figure somehow gets into their room and attacks them.  Norman puts up a great fight, but when Max runs to the door and calls the guards, the creature vanishes as quickly as it appeared.  It's a Scoobarific mystery, folks!  Zoinks!

The guards calmly explain to Max that underneath the prison is a cyclops cave and that it's tended to by a man left behind by Odysseus years ago known as "the torturer."  They seem to say this in full seriousness and talk about how Max will likely be fed to the cyclops, thus making Turkish prison more terrible than anything I'd ever previously heard of before.

"Sure, at the Gulag there was torture and beatings, but I was never fed to a cyclops."

The next morning "Mom" and Virgil spot the kid on the bike again, but Virgil's attempts to purchase the cap from him don't go very well and the kid rides off.  Max's Mom, however, shows she knows what it takes to be an action hero when she spots a saddled horse nearby and does a running "pommel horse"-style jump to land in the saddle.  She takes off after the kid and grabs Virgil as she goes past, but the hat suddenly opens a portal and the boy, his bike, Virgil, and "Mom" all go through (the horse wisely stops at the last second and sends the two flying off of it).

This is where they're menaced by "killer baboons."

I love this show so much.  "Killer baboons."

Back in prison, Max and Norman find the hidden passageway that the strange creature used before.  They start maneuvering through dark catacombs.  Long abandoned cells filled with skeletons aren't the worse thing down there, as a pressure plate leads to spikes filling the hallway they're in, but the next chamber contains the torture chamber and the creature who menaced them before.

Norman proves he means business here when he shoves the creature into an iron maiden, slams it shut on him, and then throws the whole thing down into a spiked pit.  That's pretty hardcore.

The next room also has a giant skeleton in it.  How big?  Big enough that Max can stand comfortably on a single section of the creature's spine.  Oh, and it has only one eye socket in its giant skull.

Oh, but if you thought it was that easy to get out, you're sadly mistaken.  See, first Max and Norman have to fight a giant killer eyeball.

Max manages a quick use of a scavenged crossbow to wound it, but it chases them up a passageway towards a grate, leaving them just one thing to do.  Max pulls out a bottle of "oils" his mother gave him at the start of the episode (which the guards didn't take for some reason), gets Norman to light it on fire, and Max Molotovs the giant eyeball.

They manage to get out into the courtyard of the prison and are immediately surrounded by guards with guns...until the head guard shows up and casually says his mother arrived with his passport and they're free to go.

Okay, so it's no Shawshank Redemption, but hey, that movie didn't have a giant killer eyeball, either.

Oh, but the episode isn't done yet, because the executioner creature somehow survived spiky death and leaps off of a prison wall at Norman.  Norman brings his sword up...and then changes his mind and simply catches the guy and flings him down the hole, causing a fiery explosion (?) from the passageway.  So yeah, no more killer eyeball, no more executioner, I guess.

At the end, Max talks about Turkey, stating that "people have lived in cities dating back to 7700 B.C."  He then goes on to list prominent archaeologists who have uncovered histories of buildings constructed on top of other buildings...which is all pretty deep stuff for kids, when you think about it.

The Good:

Man, that giant eyeball thing is creepy.  Plus, taking into account the fact that the executioner apparently feeds people to it just makes the whole thing even eerier.  Did the eyeball somehow come alive when the cyclops it lived in died?  Is it an entirely different creature that just happens to fit in a giant socket?  How did the cyclops die and why haven't the Turkish prison people charged admission to see a skeleton that would need an airplane hangar to display it in?

I love how this episode just leaves us wanting to know more about the world and dig into the mysteries deeper once you look past "killer eyeball," but let's face it, if you can just casually ignore the idea of a giant killer eyeball, then I really don't think we have much in common.

Oh, and Max's mom is awesome.

The Bad:

There's really not a whole lot of "bad" in this episode.  The pacing is dramatic, no character really feels wasted, and everybody gets some great lines to say.  I guess the only issue might be how terrible it portrays the Turkish prison system, but considering how it already has a pretty terrible reputation, I don't think "full of mythological beasts that try to murder you" would really lower its Yelp much.

So that was a pretty great episode, here's hoping the next ones live up to that same standard!