Review done by: Raymond Blakey
The episode opens with the Action Force in the midst of stopping one of Doctor XÂfs nefarious schemes somewhere in the Northeastern USA ( Note by Jamar Miller: I always loved how this episode really took us all over the world. It was truly a international Show that globe trotted its way all around the world )
In this case Action Man sneaks into XÂfs hideout under an Armored Skullmen troop carrier. He has time to listen as X and Gangrene discuss their latest plan. In this case it is a plan utilizing a new crystal catalyst element that Gangrene has invented. It produces a gas that freezes anyone near it instantly. He tests it on two unfortunate prisoners. Gangrene explains that even a small amount of the catalyst is enough to freeze the population of any major city.
Once Action Man realizes that X is going to fire a rocket loaded with the material at Paris he and his team attack. He grabs the catalyst and makes a daring escape with X yelling behind him. X calls Action Man an Âginterfering dogÂh and suddenly this gives him an idea.
Later on patrol the team discovers this German Shepard routing through the garbage cans of New York City. Jacque pleads with Action Man to let him keep the animal, but the rest of the team seem opposed to the idea, most notably Knuck, who is blatantly against the idea.
But, seeing the Dog causes Action Man to have one of his patented memory flashes. This one reveals him as a child playing with a similar dog as the one they just found; only it is a white dog. In any event this causes him to agree to allow Jacque to keep the animal.
Later back at Action Force HQ, Jacque reveals to Knuck that he has named the Dog RAID. An Acronym that stands for: Randomly Acquired Intelligent Dog, thus underscoring one of many reasons why Jacque may never know the love of a real woman.
Suddenly, there is an Emergency Alert. Doctor X is attempting to steal back the catalyst crystal from the storage facility where it is being kept. The Team gets extreme and does their little stock footage tube thing to the Action Plane, poor Jacque has to wheel his way over on his own as always, but this time Raid accompanies him. The team arrives just in time to stop the Skullmen from stealing the catalyst. Or at least they would have stopped the Skullmen, had Raid not chosen that moment to go berserk and attack the Action Force instead of the Skullmen. Action Man is forced to knock Raid unconscious while the Skullmen escape with the catalyst crystal.
Later, back at base, Jacque discovers it is some sort of nano-virus emitted by RaidÂfs collar that causes him to turn via remote control from Doctor X. They know itÂfs Doctor X, because the small circuit in RaidÂfs collar has a little-bitty X-symbol on it. Fortunately Jacque is able to rig up a dampening device and is sure Raid will be as good as new. This affection that Jacque has for Raid bring on another flashback ( the second in the episode) for Action Man.
Doctor X sends Norris a ransom note that says unless he is paid a large sum of money he is going to freeze the entire population of Europe. Fortunately now that our heroes know that Raid was sent by Doctor X, they use the Dog to track X back to his lair.
In the midst of the battle, Gangrene discovers the inhibitor on Raid and shoots it off. The entire mission almost fails as Raid goes under XÂfs control again. But, Action Man convinces Raid to shake off XÂfs control and in doing so the Collar explodes and raid is finally free. Thus allowing the heroes to stop X and destroy the crystal. But, not before X once again escapes. Finally, it is decided, much to KnuckÂfs chagrin that Raid will be a new member of the Action Force.
Finale Thoughts : I want to make sure I mention the live Action Segments that begin and end each episode of Action Man. Though they appear to be wasted padding (and the opening ones are, sort of), they do work towards the series ultimate goal of revealing the secrets behind Action ManÂfs hidden past. ItÂfs also interesting to note that same guy playing live Action Man is also his voice actor.
The flashbacks in this episode revolved around Action Man and his childhood Dog. This leads back to one of my favorite things about this series. Any object or event could be used to elicit some sort of Flashback sequence from Action Man. If he noticed someone wearing shoes heÂfd have a flashback and say something like, ÂgI wore shoes once.Âh
Tying Raid into the flashbacks was a good idea, however, because it would otherwise be too easy to write this entire episode off as a toy commercial. Yes, it was clearly designed to sell the Action Man with Raid toy set that came out at the time, but having it be part of the over-all story concept made it much easier to swallow. Besides, all the great heroes had Dogs, Action Man should be no exception.
Finally I want to mention the cool vehicles and weapons employed by the Skullmen such as the armored troop carrier and the mobile rocket launchers littered around XÂfs base. These would have made such COOL toys for a much smaller line of figures than Action Man was. Tradition forced the Action Man toy line to be produced as a 12 inch line of figures with VERY limited vehicles. But, there was so much more that could have been produced for this line and it might still be with us today if they had.
All in all this was a fun and pretty light episode that introduced one of the most underrated members of the Action Force.
