No Way Out

Let’s talk about Viper’s creations. Later we’ll learn they’re called “plantimals,” and so far we see two different types. The first are pretty much just fat green blobs with big, red-lipped mouths filled with sharp teeth (“Behemoths,” according to the model sheets), and have wavy tentacles tipped in what appear to be suction cups. The other kind are bulbous, greenish-yellow things with two spindly legs and purple-lipped mouths filled with teeth (“Rovers”). Not exactly the most threatening monsters in the series so far, to say the least, and their goofy appearance and warbling cries make it very difficult to take Viper seriously as a threat like he was in The Giant Bacteria.

Getting back to the story, Viper uses an eyedropper to draw some orange liquid from a flask and then feed it to a small, purple Venus flytrap. The flytrap instantly grows to a height of about fifty feet but somehow its roots don’t bust out of the pot. That accomplished, Viper enthuses, “Soon this foul city will be one giant, glorious swamp!” More on this later.

Realizing she might want to, like, tell somebody about this, Callie leaves but closes the door. In doing so it creaks loudly, alerting Viper to her presence. She runs back into the lobby, which is filled with overgrown plantlife that blocks the main entrance. “No way out!” she says to no one in particular. She tries a phone, but it’s “not connected yet!” An off-screen growl makes her scream and run away, dropping the phone.

At the SWAT Kats’ hangar the alarm is blaring. Chance answers the phone and turns the alarm off, asking Callie what the problem is. “We’ve got problems, guys,” she tells him, “Dr. Viper’s back!” “Viper? Where” asks Chance. She tells him he’s at “Megakat Towers,” and that “this time he has an army of plant monsters,” but before she can explain what it is Viper is actually planning to do, she’s grabbed by a pair of thorny plant tentacle things that snake out from underneath a door, one of which covers her mouth, and she drops her communicator.

Soon Chance and Jake have donned their SWAT Kat gear and run over and hop into the Turbokat in a clip totally recycled from The Giant Bacteria, before blasting off to save the day.

Back at the Megakat Tower, we see that the giant vines/beanstalks/whatever they are have covered the entire bottom half of the building. A bunch of Enforcer patrol cars arrive on the scene, including Commander Ulysses Feral’s distinctive blue-and-white one. Getting out, Feral tells a random commando guy, “Report.” Random commando guy says, “According to witnesses, Commander, this stuff just sprang up in minutes.” What witnesses? Oh, Ann and Jonny. Anyway he says it’ll take a week to cut through it, but Feral says not if they burn their way in. The commando protests that it’s a “ten story wall of dry brush,” and that if their fire gets out of hand “it’ll torch the whole city.” “Objection noted,” Feral says.

As they head off to, uh, somewhere, they’re intercepted by Ann Gora who thrusts her microphone into Feral’s face and asks him if he’s aware that Deputy Mayor Briggs is inside the building. Feral says that figures, and clamps his hand on Ann’s microphone, forcing it down (my hero!), then turns to the random commando dude he was talking to a minute ago and tells him to “get the choppers ready.” Oh boy, the ever-trustworthy Enforcer choppers.

Shortly, a trio of Enforcer choppers are flying towards the Megakat Tower. They’re intercepted however by some more of those odd little “plantimal” critters, these perhaps the most ridiculous-looking ones of the entire bunch. They’re basically bird-shaped, puke-yellow things with wings, fanged mouths with big red lips, and long tails that end in suction cups. According to behind the scenes material, these have the truly original name of “Flyers.” However despite looking silly, it’s these plantimals that are arguably the most dangerous. One vomits a green liquid onto one of the choppers, and it quickly begins to eat through the windshield. “Kats alive!” cries the pilot of this craft. “This stuff’s acid, eating right through my chopper!” Transfer this guy to the Enforcers’ detective division if they’ve got one.

(According to the script, this guy is Burge, and he’s one of the Enforcer pilots who appeared at the beginning of The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice, the other being King – get it? King was in this scene as well in the script, but was cut, and in fact only his shoulder appears in the episode in a later scene.)

One spits the green acid onto the cockpit of Feral’s chopper, and it so looks like the Commander gets a faceful of the stuff but a moment later he’s fine. More pressing matters in his eyes however is the fact his “weapons system” is “gummed up,” and we see that one of the side-mounted chain guns on his chopper is being melted by the acid. I dunno if this qualifies as being “gummed up.” As Feral flies over the penthouse, he sees none other than Dr. Viper standing on the balcony and having a good laugh at his expense. “Viper? Should’ve known that crazy lizard would be behind this mess!” grumbles Feral. In a nice bit, Viper actually waves good-bye as the chopper flies over him.

“Run, Feral, you fool,” sneers Viper, “because there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” Oh quit gloating, you jerk. He then runs inside the penthouse, and thanks to an animation blooper, only some parts of the penthouse glass is see-through: we can see through the glass of the window, but not through the glass of the door. Inside the room, there’s a gigantic, green, pulsating mass in the middle of the floor. Callie lays nearby (hilariously “contained” behind a rope barrier) with one of the Rover type plantimals holding onto her legs. Trying to shake it free, she tells it to let go, prompting the entering Dr. Viper to explain that his plantimals only listen to him. Gee, I never would’ve figured that out…

“Besides,” he continues, “you wouldn’t want to run away and miss out on all the excitement!” Laughing, he goes over and starts stroking the aforementioned big green pulsating thing, prompting Callie to ask just what the hell it is. He calls it a “spore pod,” and says it’s going to explode and cover the entire city with its “beautiful spores.” “I can see it all now,” he says, laying his head on the pod (ewww), “a spectacular new Megakat City. No more ugly metal and plastic. Only beautiful swamp, ruled by me! Dr. Viper’s Mega-Swamp City!” Oh good grief. Firstly, this show’s obsession with/overuse of the prefix “mega” is beginning to get annoying, and secondly, why does Viper want to turn the city into a giant swamp? We’ll never find out. Coming back to reality, he says it will be beautiful and wipes a tear from his eye. Suddenly they hear the sound of jet engines approaching. “Wake up and smell the coffee, Viper,” Callie sneers, “here come the SWAT Kats!” Ooooh, I bet he’s really shaking now, Callie!

The Turbokat flies onto the scene! T-Bone comments that it “looks like a farmer’s market down there,” which it doesn’t, and then Razor looks through a pair of orange-lensed goggles he’s holding up to his eyes (?) and says, “It’s Viper, all right, and he’s got Callie!” We then cut to a P.O.V. shot through said goggles, and we can see Dr. Viper, Callie, the spore pod, and two of the winged puke-yellow Flyer plantimals, who Viper calls his “little pets” and tells to attack the SWAT Kats. The two winged uglies fly out through is apparently supposed to be a skylight in the penthouse roof, which T-Bone refers to as “plug-ugly company.” Razor, now wearing the goggles, says the weapons system is ready.

One of the critters vomits its green liquid and it splatters onto, uh, something. This is seen from Razor’s P.O.V. through the goggles, so what is the gunk hitting? Razor also somehow instantly intuits that it’s acid, even though it hasn’t begun to actually eat through the Turbokat. “Hey, these things are spittin’ acid!” he cries, taking the goggles off (exactly what is keeping those things on anyway?). “So I’ve noticed,” comments T-Bone, and now the acid has begun to eat through the jet.

He takes evasive action, and Razor fires “Piranha Missiles.” These are missiles with big, serrated steel jaws on the front that I’m assuming are meant to bite their target. I say “assuming” because the Flyers (of which there are now three – where’d the third come from?) quickly melt them with their acid spit.

Looking on from inside the penthouse, Viper whirls to three more of the winged plantimals and tells them go join the pursuit. They fly off and Viper says, “You see, Miss Briggs, my armies are endlessl!” Oh yeah, you’ve got, what, six of them in all? Truly a formidable aerial attack force, there, Doc. He then notices that Callie is gone, having apparently hit the Rover plantimal that was guarding her with a typewriter. Viper knocks the typewriter away and grabs the semi-conscious mutant, and after accusing it of letting Callie escape, knocks him across the room with his tail. The plantimal flies into the window but the glass doesn’t shatter, it merely cracks and the creature just splats into it comically.

(In the script, it did smash through the glass and land on Feral’s car, melting it with its acidic guts. Some of it even gets on Feral and he needs to be hosed off.)

Back outside, the Turbokat is, uh, flying around being chased by the flying creatures, and Razor has just gotten done saying something that T-Bone doesn’t like. Asked to repeat himself, Razor says he’ll penetrate the tower and come up on Viper from beneath. T-Bone nixes the idea, saying, “Plants have taken over the whole building, or haven’t ya noticed?” “But Callie’s in there, T-Bone!” Razor protests. “Riiiiight,” T-Bone says. Nice to know they (apparently) wouldn’t attempt to stop Viper if the Deputy Mayor wasn’t in the building, too.

T-Bone tells Razor to maintain radio contact at all times, and the gunner ejects from the Turbokat in his Ejektor seat (last seen in The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice) and flies over to the Megakat Tower, crashing through a window. Nice, subtle entrance there, Ace.