Teaser: Double trouble for Action Man! Evil Professor Gangrene steals an atom-freezing device. Action Man tracks him to the English Channel, where Gangrene freezes the water, trapping Action Man under the ice. Meanwhile, Doctor X steals radioactive waste from a nuclear plant, using the frozen channel as an escape route. A battle between Action Force and the skullmen commences in the icy channel. Can Action Man and the Action Force prevent the explosive-rigged toxic waste from blowing up and contaminating the world's oceans?
Review done by : Manetoys
Okay, this is my first review so be nice. I’ve always known about this show, but didn’t watch it last time it was on ‘cause it was on Sunday mornings and at the time it was on, I always assumed cartoons on Sunday automatically sucked. If it were REALLY good, it would’ve been on Saturday. But now that I’ve actually seen it, it’s not so bad. This show actually reminds me some old stuff I used to watch when I was little. The live action segments at the beginning and end of the show remind me of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and there are various things in this that remind me of GI Joe. Considering this is the British version of Joe, it only makes sense. The live action scenes don’t really have anything to do with the story, so I won’t go too deeply into them. Although there is ONE thing I want to mention…
The Skullmen here, are proof positive that some things just DON’T WORK in real life. Now with THAT out of the way, we can continue.
Click on picture to enlarge
Basiclly, The action force get an “Action Alert†that Dr. X and Gangrene have stolen a device called the “MPS†that can “stop all molecular movement.†They say it’s like “What happens to Atoms at absolute zero.†While doing so, Gangrene fires a missle that blows up a piece of Big Ben. Upon learning this, Action Man and his Action Force take off from their satellite base and head off to find him. Also, before leaving, Action Man has a flash of memory from his childhood.
Apparently, not only did he have brown hair as a child, but also he wasn’t very popular either. He sits at a bench while the other kids play soccer. The ball rolls to him and he thinks they want to play with him, but another kid comes and kicks the ball back so little Action Man just sits right back down in silence. Sounds like me when I was child. Anyway, on their way to the mission, they receive another “Action Alert†telling them that Dr. X has now stolen three trucks filled with plutonium from a Nuclear power plant near London. X is just on a roll, isn’t he? They learn that Gangrene however is on Dr. X’s submarine and headed to another direction.
Action Man decides to go after Gangrene and the rest of the team will handle Dr. X. Unfortunatly, this turns out to be a trap. Once Action Man dives into the water, Gangrene uses the MPS to freeze the water. So instead of going after Dr. X, the rest of the team stay behind to save Action Man. Once underwater, and the sheet of solid ice covers the water, Action Man has more flashbacks involving him with a dog, playing on the beach with a mysterious blonde woman ( presumaly his mother)
A burning house, him as an adult in school, ( notice Ursala sitting next to him in school )
Falling from a plane into a very snowy mountain where he collapses in front of a mysterious door.
He also has memories of a Buddha looking guy that says;
“The human mind and the human body are the most formidable weapons on the planet,â€
This is followed with another memory of Action Man atop the Eiffel tower with Ursala . She says, “You should be happy. You’ve done well.†Action Man tells her that he “Has his reasons.†The woman asks “Will that affect us?†and he simply replies with an “I’m afraid they’re going to.†Action Man kicks back to reality and falls down the water.
Through strange radar technology I don’t really understand, Natile and Knuck search for Action Man. They use a laser gun to cut through the ice and first pull up his rather beat up speedboat thing. As they do, Action man has another flashback of the same soccer game. This time, as he stands, another boy ( who is intended to be his brother, A young Dr. X ) who’s face is hidden behind a tree throws a ball at him. Aiming for his face, but little Action Man catches it.
He kicks back to reality and pounds on the ice to get there attention. It works. Knuck fires the laser gun, cutting a hole and Action Man swims out, breathing heavily.
Soon after, they discover X’s convey of trucks with plutonium actually IS meeting Gangrene by using the ice he made as a bridge to the sub. At that point, Dr. X sets up a trap by planting bombs on each of the trucks that will go off in ten minutes. This will contaminate the world’s oceans with nuclear radiation. Gangrene decides no one is going to take his “toy†and tries to make a break for it with the MPS. Dr. X though catches him, and shoots at him. Gangrene falls to the floor, dropping the MPS and Action Man catches it. The skullmen attack Action Man. AM takes the MPS and drives off on his speedboat to diverse the Skullmen while Kunck and Natile defuse the bombs with Dr. X trying to of course kill them.
Back with Action Man, as the Skullmen chases him, he notices a bunch of seals in his path. He gets some snow from the ice, and throws it at one Skullman, causing a chain reaction where HE smacks into another Skullman, and his snowspeeder thing crashes into the other. Amazing what a little snow can do. Than, MORE Skullman come after him. Action Man drives up a frozen wave and lands underneath it with the Skullmen ontop of it with no idea where he went. You gotta love stupid henchmen. Action Man then fires a missle at the wave, crumbling it and knocking out the Skullmen. Then he uses some laser on the side of his vehicle to cut the ice around them and send them sailing to Scotland yard.
But things aren’t going so well for the rest of the Action Force as Dr. X points out that the ice is melting with the MPS effects wearing off. The Action Force still has to disarm the bombs. Well, one at least. They disarmed one with another to go. So while Dr. X and Gangrene make there escape, Action Man returns to save the day and help Knuck by roping the Truck so that it doesn’t fall into the water. Natile is seen about to fall off a tipped over piece of ice. After a bad pick up line from Action Man, he almost falls as well, but the seal he saved before rescues him. So you see that? Be kind to animals’ guys!
Then he leaps off the piece of ice and gets hold of the MPS in his snow vehicle. Using some awfully impressive gymnastics. Especially since HE’S ON ICE!! He then frezzes the water once again so Natile can get off. With three second remaining, Knuck disarms the last bomb and tells AM that he could REALLY use a vacation. Preferably one where “The only ice is in their drinks.â€
The next day, after seeing Big Ben repaired, Knuck comments on breakfast and how he wants nothing cold. Not even the Orange Juice. This is followed with more life action stuff of Action Man in some virtual chamber, reviewing his memories and wondering if the mysterious boy who throws that ball at him could be his long lost brother.
I love this, though. Afterwards, Action Man gives a message about sunburn and how too much “fun in the sun†can hurt your skin. All that’s needed is a little boy saying, “Now I know†and Action Man replying with “And knowing is half the battle.†But then, Snake Eyes may try to kill him for stealing their thing.
FINAL VERDICT
Not a bad episode. An interesting plotline and not a bad first impression seeing that this is the first episode of this show I’ve seen. It’s good to see Action Man actually British too though I can’t help but wonder if his actor is faking that accent or not. The Skullmen seriously look like something out of Cobra and I realy like the concept of this particular version of Action Man. However, I’m not too keen on the design of the villains. I personally think Dr. X and Gangrene actually look better in the CGI series. That being said, this series is definitely worth a look if you’re into Action Man.
Comments by Jamar Miller:
This episode has more flashback scenes that any other episode so far. While many of the scenes we have seen before in other episodes it serves as a rather nice recap of previous episode flashbacks while also giving us the new flashbacks as well
This is also the first time we see the young Action Mans dog and his mother ( or who I assume to be his mother)
I loved this episode because of all the flashbacks that we got . Highly recommened episode
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