June 9, 2025 • 52 mins
Send a Priority One Message to M.A.S.K. HQ!
It's Episode 41: "Stop Motion."
Venom rolls out a Hindenburg-grade blimp armed with a world-class EMP—just to nab the Indy 500 cash box and a leather binder of EVERY U.S. safe combo (because nothing says “international terrorism” like a coupon book for bank vaults). Matt Trakker tries vacuum-tube science, Scott nearly skydives without a chute, and the only real casualty is logic. It’s 22 minutes of explosive tech, ten-dollar stakes, and the sad, slow hiss of a punctured plot balloon on this week's episode of the Mobile Armored Podcast Show!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adam (00:13):
Welcome to the Mobile Armored Podcast show, the
podcast that transforms into theHindenburg.
My name is Adam Moore, alongsidemy co-host best friend and blimp
expert, PJ McNerney.
How's it going, pj?
PJ (00:27):
I'm doing all right.
I'm gonna admit something.
this is getting us back to afrustrating trope
Adam (00:33):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (00:34):
where I think there's such brilliance behind so many of the
devices that Venom comes upwith.
Adam (00:42):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (00:43):
like whoever their science, like engineering core is.
They are really top notch.
Like they are an expansiveamount from computer programming
to attack Brian the brain.
They've got the ability tomanipulate gravity to bring down
a comet here.
They're gonna manipulate, adirectional EMP and we're gonna
(01:06):
use it for the shittiest ofthings.
Adam (01:08):
Yeah.
PJ (01:08):
Just get so tired of if I was on the engineering staff, I
would be shaking miles rightnow.
Like, what are you thinking?
What are you thinking?
You
Adam (01:18):
Let's talk about this.
Since you spent, you know,you've had a very long career in
software engineering,
PJ (01:22):
that's true.
Adam (01:22):
let's say you are the senior software engineer on this
project, and the VP isexplaining what he's going to
use it for, which is smallstakes, I mean, crimes,
whatever.
let's get the morality out of itand just say like, that's the
direction of this company thatyou're working for.
How would you handle that withyour vp?
PJ (01:42):
I love the idea where I just gave a presentation that says,
look, we have spent a tremendousamount of time, three members of
my team got cancer fromdeveloping a high energy
directional EMP,
Adam (01:55):
Yeah.
PJ (01:56):
we are really confident.
I mean, we're talking like realgenius, the movie level of
intellect required here.
Adam (02:02):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (02:03):
And it's like I get down to the presentation like, Hey,
we're really excited to see whatyou're going to use this EMP
four.
And
Adam (02:10):
Yeah.
PJ (02:11):
the VP or the director of product is like, oh, thanks so
much.
Our first mission is to rip offthe cash box of the Indy 500
Excuse me.
pardon me?
we have just spent millions ofdollars in research development
and priceless amount in terms oftalent develop something where
(02:36):
you might get 500 bucks cashhere.
Can we think a little bitbigger?
Adam (02:44):
And the VP's response is, we do a lot of thinking all the
time and appreciate yourfeedback.
thinking about your team, we aregonna have to do some headcount
reductions based on the factthat we're not meeting
profitability.
For some reason, finance islooking into the reasons why.
PJ (03:00):
We're gonna reduce head count and in venom that means we
cut your heads off'cause we area terrorist organization and we
can't allow you to say anythingto anybody.
Adam (03:11):
having set that up, we might as well dive into episode
41, stop motion.
Venom obtains an EMP bomb andthreatens to loot bank vaults
across the country by knockingout all electronics for miles
around,
PJ (03:26):
It's not a bomb.
Okay, let's just, it's not,
Adam (03:29):
no,
PJ (03:29):
their plan isn't to knock out electronics to rob those
bank faults.
We're gonna find that out aswell.
Adam (03:36):
It's,
PJ (03:37):
this tagline's wrong,
Adam (03:38):
I'm gonna do something wild here, pj, and I'm going to
go ahead and declare this pandapoon
PJ (03:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Adam (03:46):
right at the top of the episode.
PJ (03:47):
okay with that.
We've already entered panda pooterritory.
Adam (03:51):
So, we open and it's race day at the Indie 500 and in the
number 27 car, Gloria Baker iscrushing the competition.
Uh, naturally Matt and Bruce arein the VIP suite watching, and,
Matt says, considering this isGloria's first Indie 500, she's
doing great.
(04:11):
And it's like Matt, she'skilling it.
PJ (04:13):
Yeah.
Adam (04:14):
she's way in the lead.
no one is going to catch her.
PJ (04:18):
Why can't Matt give Gloria her do, is he jealous?
what is this?
Is it misogyny?
I don't know.
Adam (04:26):
Well, I guess he assumes that if he were there, he would
win.
he does have a flying Camarowith lasers,
PJ (04:32):
he would knock out the other car's,
Adam (04:34):
All the other cars broke down
PJ (04:36):
It's
Adam (04:36):
and couldn't complete the race.
PJ (04:37):
look, there's gonna be a lot of carpet bombing of this e
episode right here.
Adam (04:41):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (04:41):
gonna, but, I do want to call out something.
there's a nice set of detailswhere they show the blimp
hovering in the sky.
if you don't know what's gonnahappen, you don't think anything
of it,
Adam (04:53):
Right,
PJ (04:54):
and you're like, oh, it's just like the Goodyear Blimp at
wherever.
Right.
Adam (04:57):
right.
PJ (04:57):
But it's a nice detail.
There's seeding here and it'spart of my frustration.
Adam (05:02):
I agree because there's also a handful of throwaway
shots.
They're just race shots, andoften the distance really small.
You see the blimp above thetrack.
like, okay, someone was payingattention here as they were
animating it.
go ahead.
PJ (05:16):
you a bet last time about, about words.
Adam (05:23):
Yeah, I noticed that.
so after Matt says, she's doinggreat, Bruce says, I for one
wouldn't want to swallow herexhaust.
I did have to pause and justsort of shake my head.
what does that even mean?
PJ (05:39):
I honestly,
Adam (05:41):
or exhaust.
PJ (05:43):
I could not figure out why the writers would write that
line.
although, in my head, I heardMatt say I swallow her exhaust
Adam (05:50):
So, is it like, eat my dirt?
it could be that, it could bebreathe and exhaust, but there's
some disconnect
PJ (05:59):
it's a weird line, and at worst, it's like some, off
innuendo they're trying toinsert into a children's cartoon
that
Adam (06:08):
I would've liked them try to go for sadism here, but
instead they just went forsomething bizarre and probably
inappropriate.
PJ (06:16):
Adam, I'd like you to beep what I'm about to say out.
I would love to hear theresponse to it as a satm
Adam (06:22):
Yeah.
PJ (06:22):
I, for one, would not want to swallow her exhaust.
oh, you mean the way I eat herout or ass every single night?
Like, I mean, I just feel likethat would be the only version
of that where Sadism and Mattresponse kind of like makes
Adam (06:37):
Woo.
PJ (06:39):
yeah.
Adam (06:39):
I think that's gonna have to get bleeped out.
There are certain lines we donot cross.
well, meanwhile, in pit row,Scott is working on TBO
circuits.
I mean, he's got his head openand he is futzing around in
there, and Scott says, I bet youcould do a hundred miles per
hour now.
And Scott gives him a parachuteto slow him down.
PJ (07:00):
Okay.
So again, credit where credit isdue.
Adam (07:03):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (07:04):
Scott's able to get a hundred mile per hour engine
inside of a scooter.
Adam (07:08):
I don't know if that's,
PJ (07:11):
should you do it?
Probably not.
I mean, this is definitely oneof those Ian Malcolm lens right
Adam (07:16):
yeah.
Yep.
PJ (07:17):
you know, you spent so much time deciding whether or not you
could, you didn't
Adam (07:21):
So,
PJ (07:21):
or not you should.
Adam (07:22):
that's going to tear TB apart.
PJ (07:25):
And kill Scott
Adam (07:27):
Yeah.
PJ (07:28):
and honestly we saw this early on where Dusty gave Scott
some race fuel for some reason,
Adam (07:34):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (07:35):
this probably has to involve race, car fuel
Adam (07:38):
Oh, yeah.
PJ (07:39):
the amount of octane you need for a scooter to go a
hundred miles per hour.
Adam (07:44):
Yeah.
Not a great idea to put thatinto Tbu.
Meanwhile, an ominous blimp isseen in the sky, and as I
alluded to earlier, PJ is anexpert in blimp engineering.
is it a dirigible or is it ablimp?
PJ (07:57):
So, a dirigible is the broad term here.
this is somewhat science, butalso like a history corner.
a dirigible refers to a lighterthan air vehicle
Adam (08:10):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:11):
that's steerable.
So the idea of a lighter thanair thing is that, as opposed to
using bernoulli's principle andaerodynamics, the shape of the
wing to produce lift withthrust, which is heavier than
air vehicles, that's yourtypical planes, jets, et cetera.
pump some sort of gas that islighter than air.
(08:31):
Typically it's gonna be helium
Adam (08:33):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:34):
now a blimp basically refers to a non rigid, dirigible.
so what that means is it's likea gigantic balloon that is blown
up the particular shape of thattorpedo is chosen because it has
a better way of steering throughthe air.
when you think about Dirigiblesthough, and you, you speak of it
(08:56):
that way, the people arethinking about rigid
Adam (08:59):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:59):
like a Zeppelin.
Adam (09:00):
Right.
PJ (09:01):
this is where there is this internal structure that is rigid
both on the inside and outsideeven though the outside might
be, relatively light,
Adam (09:11):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (09:11):
And so when you think about a, hindenberg.
Adam (09:14):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (09:15):
as the most famous example of a rigid dirigible.
this was, a dirigible that wasfilled with hydrogen, and then
Adam (09:24):
Excellent choice.
well, I guess my question comesdown to, why a blimp in Venoms,
you know, and so if it was ahydrogen filled Zeppelin, for
example, they could actuallypotentially do some real damage
here if they wanted to sincethey're terrorists.
So why a blimp for this EMPdevice?
(09:46):
Why is that the platform?
PJ (09:48):
I think we got to get to a separate conversation about why
target the Indie 500 in thefirst place.
And what the stakes are there.
So let's, hold onto that for asecond because in one sense it's
a good way to hide
Adam (10:01):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:02):
why you'd want to do this at the Indie 500 for the stakes is
a different question.
Adam (10:07):
Yeah.
PJ (10:08):
we are gonna find out that, like we talked about at the top,
we have this directed EMP pulsecannon, right?
So what is EMP?
It's this rapid wave ofelectromagnetic radiation that
can damage or disruptelectronics.
some examples, lightning
Adam (10:23):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:23):
static electricity, but most of the time people are thinking
about it from a nuclearstandpoint.
Adam (10:28):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:29):
nukes produce an EMP,
Adam (10:31):
right?
PJ (10:32):
then you get into these non-nuclear ME mps.
So if you think about, the pinchfrom Oceans 11.
Adam (10:37):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:38):
if you take all of this in mind, like a blimp has
relatively few electronics, youactually could do the entire
thing without electronics.
Sure.
So.
Adam (10:50):
and a rudder,
PJ (10:51):
Yeah,
Adam (10:52):
all you need to.
Yeah.
Okay.
PJ (10:53):
as you're firing away from it there shouldn't be too much
backsplash.
this is a, somewhat reasonableway to say, let's put this stuff
on a blimp and we'll fire thisoff and not ourselves be
affected.
Um, terrible getaway vehicle.
But if you've damaged everyoneelse's vehicles, one will
actually be able to catch you.
So
Adam (11:13):
speaking of that, at EMP, let's just set up the fact that
while the race is going on,suddenly everything stops
working.
TV stopped working.
All the COR cars short out, evenTBO goes down.
the whole place is dead in thewater except for the PA system
where the PA guy says, we don'tknow what's going on, everyone.
sit tight.
we'll see what's happening.
PJ (11:30):
well talk about why, Potential reason why that's not
affected.
thing I'll point out is that theway you protect against an EMP
is a thing called a Faradaycage.
Adam (11:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (11:39):
So basically it's like surround yourself entirely with
metal.
It's has to do with theproperties with conductivity,
but the electricity would juststay on the outer shell of that
thing.
one thing that's a littlequestionable that no one's
really quite figured out, likearen't many cars just a metal
shell, especially if you're inthe 1970s or beforehand.
Adam (11:59):
Yeah.
PJ (12:00):
So there's been this open question, that I actually
researched and I didn't get agreat answer of how much a car
would be affected by any mp.
part of it has to do with themetal shell.
Adam (12:11):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (12:11):
to do with the number of electronics in it, which only
started happening with solidstate, post 75 or so.
Adam (12:18):
So the idea is would the Indy cars actually be affected
at all by this EMP?
PJ (12:22):
tough to say, and it's like, again, pro I I would err on the
side of, probably not, it'stheoretical one way or another.
Adam (12:32):
so far in this episode, we have discussed the Indy 500, the
properties of blimps,electromagnetic pulses, and
we've still not quite figuredout why Venom would use this
platform for their new weapon,Nevertheless, back in pit row,
Matt is studying the car thathas broken down and Bruce is
studying T bobb who is notworking.
(12:54):
Turns out that all the circuits,are shorted out.
PJ (12:57):
This is like, again, it's smoking in the engine.
I was trying to back my way into
Adam (13:01):
Yeah.
Tbo is too, right?
There's smoke coming out of tbotoo.
PJ (13:04):
coming outta tbo and on one hand he is definitely a metal
shell,
Adam (13:09):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (13:10):
in the middle of his brain working on him, so it wasn't
quite clear.
The only thing I could think offor the EMP and the mechanical
engine was if there's some smallcomputer controlling the fuel
injection
Adam (13:22):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (13:22):
that caused it to shoot the wrong amount of fuel through
that's a really hard thingbecause you're more likely to
flood the engine than cause itto smoke like that.
Adam (13:31):
Yeah.
PJ (13:32):
it's pretty short tail on that one
Adam (13:33):
Well the ticket guy comes running into pit row and screams
robbery, and it turns out thatCliff and Sly have stolen the
cash box from the Indie 500,which it's 1985.
I bet a lot of it was paid forin cash, and all they have is
just one little cash box thatmaybe at best is holding$10,000,
PJ (13:53):
if everyone was paying hundred dollars bills,
Adam (13:55):
Yeah.
point being, this is pretty hightech stuff, as we have pointed
out earlier in our sort ofscience corner and deep
discussion of the blimp and EMPand everything.
Pretty high tech stuff for avery, very low stakes crime.
PJ (14:12):
the last time I felt like we saw this was in Vegas where they
Adam (14:15):
Yeah,
PJ (14:16):
the reversing machine.
Adam (14:18):
right.
PJ (14:18):
at least then, the stakes were higher because there was
more money involved.
Adam (14:23):
Right?
PJ (14:23):
somehow we've taken an equivalent amount of technology
and lowered the stakes lower.
Adam (14:28):
Yes.
PJ (14:31):
fun little detail.
Cliff and Sly have both.
Gone to do this.
each of their vehicles can holdat least two
Adam (14:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (14:40):
And yet despite this, they have decided to go separately
Adam (14:45):
I can buy that because they like their vehicles.
They like to drive them.
for example, I like my vehicleand I like to drive that as
opposed to driving my wife'svehicle.
I'll grant them that They gotall the seats set up the way
they like'em
PJ (14:59):
but Adam, if you and I are going to rob the Indie 500,
Adam (15:03):
Yeah.
PJ (15:04):
wouldn't we take one vehicle?
Adam (15:06):
whose vehicle are you proposing to take, pj?
PJ (15:08):
I almost don't care.
Adam (15:10):
I will say probably four transit because it's gonna carry
more stuff,
PJ (15:14):
we can do the Ford Transit.
Adam (15:15):
Okay.
PJ (15:15):
so.
Adam (15:16):
back what I said.
PJ (15:17):
it's like, fine, you've got that sidecar slide, but let's
use jackhammer.
We can use the trunk.
Adam (15:21):
Yeah,
PJ (15:22):
that big a deal.
Like even if it was piana, justhold in your laps, cliff.
Adam (15:27):
yeah, seriously.
Well anyways, Matt and Bruce tryto chase after them, but
Thunder, Hawk and Rhino areshorted out by the EMP.
PJ (15:35):
this extra one seems much more in point because these
vehicles would have morecircuits in
Adam (15:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (15:40):
now MPS can affect circuits that are off,
Adam (15:44):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (15:45):
likely, like,
Adam (15:46):
Okay.
PJ (15:46):
you really are shredding these things out.
But maybe the mask vehicles arejust on all the time somehow.
Adam (15:52):
Back in pit row, Scott Repairs tbo.
And TBO says, you shorted out mypower circuit, you said, never
again.
And Scott's response was, itwasn't me this time, something
else went wrong.
PJ (16:06):
I love that this is a legitimate concern by T Bob.
like, Scott, you fucked with mycircuits before and done this.
You told me you weren't going todo it again.
Was like, no, I didn't.
I didn't.
I didn't this time.
Adam (16:17):
I also love the fact that, I mean, tbo was out cold.
PJ (16:21):
Yes.
Adam (16:22):
if Scott did it, he'd be like, no, something else went
wrong.
It wasn't me this time.
Matt returns to pit row andreveals that it was venom.
There's a nice Matt Gloriamoment when, uh, Matt tells
Gloria that the other driversdidn't have a chance.
He's like a really supportivehusband.
PJ (16:36):
He really is.
but how much taller is Matt thanGloria
Adam (16:40):
Yeah.
The perspective in the shot.
he's a giant.
PJ (16:42):
He
Adam (16:42):
I mean, either she is really short or he is really
tall or I guess both.
But the perspective isn't greathere, You know, the animation
here, Bruce is in thebackground, and you can see some
of the stands in the background,but none of it is sort of
blurred out to make it look likeit's in the distance.
So everything is so flat
PJ (17:02):
yeah,
Adam (17:03):
Bruce also looks like a small child standing next to
Matt.
PJ (17:08):
Despite that height difference Gloria knows she
could still slam Matt to theground.
Adam (17:12):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well, the announcer on the PAsystem calls off the race.
Matt realizes that the PA systemis working.
It was unaffected by theelectrical issues.
So he sends Bruce to check itout while Matt goes to look at
the security video.
PJ (17:29):
Yeah, this is okay.
We're gonna hit so many pointsof frustration where they
decided to spend some time.
Adam (17:34):
Yeah.
PJ (17:35):
spends time on the PA explaining to folks check the
newspapers for the race beingrescheduled.
Adam (17:42):
You know, I actually just re-watched the episode a few
minutes before diving in.
And I had the same thought,like, why are we spending any
screen time or voiceover timecalming the fake people in the
cartoon down that, don't worry,check the newspapers when we
reschedule the race.
PJ (17:59):
It,
Adam (18:00):
And also at the end of the episode they do the same thing.
PJ (18:02):
do do the same thing.
There's a bunch of stuff at theend of the episode where I'm
just like, why?
Why was
Adam (18:06):
We didn't need any of this.
PJ (18:08):
like, why don't we spend that towards story?
Adam (18:12):
What story
PJ (18:13):
so the PA system being affected seems odd and we're not
gonna get a good answer, butI'll insert one based on some
stuff we find out.
Adam (18:20):
mm-hmm.
PJ (18:21):
Matt looking at videos here does not
Adam (18:23):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (18:24):
So we know that in the eighties, Adam, what did we
record video on
Adam (18:30):
Videotape
PJ (18:31):
what technology was used for that recording?
Adam (18:34):
the good old magnet
PJ (18:36):
And what's the m in EMP stand for?
Adam (18:40):
electromagnetic.
PJ (18:41):
Right.
this should have gotten wipedout.
Adam (18:44):
Right,
PJ (18:44):
like the classic, don't put a magnet next to your cassette
tape
Adam (18:48):
right, Yeah.
PJ (18:49):
it's like, okay, fine.
Adam (18:51):
Well, Matt, unless the whole security room is a Faraday
cage,
PJ (18:54):
Maybe,
Adam (18:55):
but that's giving them way too much credit.
PJ (18:57):
true.
Adam (18:58):
Matt's in the security room, he's looking at the
videos, but doesn't findanything unusual.
So I guess he could just walkinto the security room at the
Indy 500.
Huh.
PJ (19:07):
Yeah, of course.
the Indie 500 sponsored byTrakker Industries
Adam (19:12):
he had a giant VIP booth, like huge, and it was just him
and Bruce in it.
So yeah, I guess he owns theplace.
PJ (19:20):
I like the idea of him, he went in and he said, Hey, I'd
like to rent a room, for this.
And they showed him a room.
This isn't big enough.
I want that one.
Oh, that's the owner's box.
Well then how much do I need topay to
Adam (19:33):
Yeah.
PJ (19:34):
I want the biggest room.
Adam (19:37):
By the way, at the end of the scene in the video room,
Scott and Tbo are there, andScott complains to Matt that
he's bummed out'cause theyhaven't seen anything.
And in response, Matt saysnothing and just walks away.
He actually waves his hand,like, not, like goodbye, just
like, sort of like brushes itoff like a, like a fly that's
bothering him and walks rightout of the room.
PJ (19:59):
How do you respond as a kid to that?
Hmm.
Adam (20:02):
I mean, how Scott responds.
Anytime Matt abandons him, likehe didn't even say, come on
Scott, let's go.
He just walks out and the doorcloses behind him.
Oh, Matt, father of the year.
PJ (20:18):
father of the year,
Adam (20:19):
in the absence of his father, Scott gets the great
idea about looking at the blimpscameras for a better view.
when they go outside, they seethat the blimp is gone.
T Bobb asks What keeps the blimpin the air?
Scott says, they're filled withhot air.
T Bobb says, sort of like youand Scott gets really angry,
(20:40):
which I would kinda get angrytoo.
Scott says, watch it.
T Bobb.
I saw a scrap metal yard nearhere.
That's a Roy Batty nomination,man.
PJ (20:49):
percent Roy Batty.
Also, again, like kind ofunnecessary from a, like, where
you spend your time as a writer,
Adam (20:56):
Yeah.
PJ (20:57):
like what is required here.
Adam (21:00):
Yeah.
PJ (21:00):
I think there is something nice about Scott taking us to
this idea about the blimp butshitting back and forth is just
kind of not necessary.
Adam (21:08):
Yeah, if you actually break it down, there's so little
that happens in this episode.
PJ (21:13):
Yeah,
Adam (21:13):
much of it is filled with unnecessary side quests, and
unnecessary dialogue.
PJ (21:18):
I love how Scott still has his helmet on it
Adam (21:22):
Yep.
PJ (21:23):
to me why until just now.
It's to
Adam (21:25):
is,
PJ (21:26):
tears, Adam.
It's to hide his tears.
Adam (21:31):
yeah.
PJ (21:31):
father just brushed him off without saying a word.
And, he keeps the helmet onbecause he he doesn't want the
the world to know how hurt heis.
Adam (21:39):
Good point.
Scott, goes, they go outside andthey ask a complete stranger
where the blimp is and.
Oh, folks, I just wish that yougot to sit to sit with me and
look at the surprises that PJputs in the rundown before me.
The stranger does not respond.
(22:03):
I, I, I'll, I'll, I'll, uh,I'll, I'll do some of it here.
So Scott asked a stranger wherethe blimp is and the stranger
responds, and here's what PJwrote.
Why do you think I would knowabout that?
Do I look like your tour guide,rich boy?
Go check the hanger.
And then lots of expletivesabout Scott.
PJ (22:27):
Sprinkled in there.
Adam (22:29):
What he basically says is, there was no blimp, but there's
a hanger nearby.
Why don't you go check that out?
PJ (22:33):
yep.
Adam (22:34):
And so Scott and t Bobb race off to the blimp hanger at
a hundred miles an hour.
PJ (22:39):
So I guess maybe that helmet's a good idea,
Adam (22:41):
Meanwhile, inside the hangar, they find the whole
Venom gang charging up somedevice on the blimp.
Sly is giving cliffs somepositive affirmations, He says,
you know, dagger, if only wecould hook you up to this
generator, we could charge yourbrain.
Nah, you'd only blow the fuse.
PJ (23:01):
This was so unnecessary.
Adam (23:03):
Cliff is like, you ought to keep your big mouth from
charging.
why do we need any of thisstuff?
PJ (23:08):
much anger, just unnecessary.
Adam (23:11):
So much anger and so much wasted.
Like why do we need any of this?
Do like why?
Just again, there's anotherepisode where there's but
there's very little mask in it.
miles Boards, the blimp and hesays to Sly and Cliff, who are
gonna take off in the car intheir vehicles.
You know the plan.
Now we go for the goal.
PJ (23:29):
maybe, you know, you guys all know the goal.
Maybe instead of doing the wholecomplaining back and forth with
Scott and t Bobb and and Sly, wecould spend some of that time,
setting something up for us.
Adam (23:41):
Yeah.
Yeah.
PJ (23:42):
is, as far as we know, ripping off race car cash boxes
Adam (23:47):
this is the whole point.
There's so much wasted dialogue,but then when you get to a point
where there should be dialogue,that actually helps us, eight
year olds who are watching theshow out and kind of build some
stakes.
PJ (23:57):
Yeah.
Adam (23:58):
Like he could even say, now to put our plan into action,
no safe in the country will be,
PJ (24:05):
Safe.
Adam (24:05):
Like at least that we're like, Ooh, now those are stakes.
Now I'm scared about whatVenom's gonna do instead.
Nope.
Just now we go for the goal andsly waves at him.
PJ (24:17):
I'll point out, one interesting thing that's missing
from this episode,
Adam (24:21):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (24:22):
we're not gonna see any mask, assembly, computer stuff.
We're just
Adam (24:25):
Oh,
PJ (24:26):
hand.
So there's a lot of stuff that'sactually missing from this
episode, even from our,
Adam (24:31):
Well, I know, let's just go on this tangent for a second
and then we'll get back to theshow itself.
So the show's in syndication,every episode could be the first
episode that anyone watches,right?
So we talked about that actuallyin, two episodes ago.
PJ (24:43):
yeah.
Adam (24:44):
when with the episode with Matt's dad, like it's really not
a mask episode.
PJ (24:48):
I.
Adam (24:48):
the thing that's key about the agents going to Boulder
Hill, getting the masks charged.
It's actually really helpful foranyone who's watching it for the
first time.
you understand there issomething called the mobile
Armored strike Command, thatthere's a computer that
identifies who these people areand the cool vehicles they have.
And then there's somethingawesome from a text standpoint
(25:10):
about these masks that they'reputting on their heads.
We might not know what thepowers are, but we see a cool
room that goes up into theradiation chamber of death and
the power supply, causes them toglow and they put them on their
head.
You know what I mean?
Like
PJ (25:21):
yeah,
Adam (25:21):
Visual storytelling for the show.
And again, many of theseepisodes we've been seeing
recently don't do that.
So I don't know if I'm a kid, ifI miss some of the first
episodes in the series, if I'mstill really plugged into what's
going on here.
PJ (25:35):
Let me ask you a question.
from a writing standpoint, doyou think this is symptomatic of
trying to satisfy twoconstraints that are completely
at odds with each other?
One is the idea that, like wechatted about a couple episodes
that was pointed out to us byJames that, the writers, weren't
able to affect any sort oflong-term change,
Adam (25:57):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (25:58):
other than the oddball hurricane or some of those new
agents that we're about to seein the upcoming episodes.
things have to be different, butthey can't change.
Adam (26:07):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (26:07):
are we seeing this as kind of like, well, the only thing we
can change if we can't changeanything, the only thing we can
change is the base formula Andso now we're hollowing out those
essential elements for the sakeof just having something.
Different, even though it's liketo what extent, is the fact that
we can't make anythingimpactful, harming even the
(26:30):
episodic nature of it.
Adam (26:31):
I would disagree with that.
I've got two thoughts on it.
PJ (26:36):
Yeah.
Adam (26:36):
One is, and I'll, I'll go sort of in, in to support what
you were saying, because we havea small group of writers and
we're writing, uh, let's, let's,let's talk about 65 for the
first season.
there may be lots of returningwriters, who wrote multiple
episodes and they themselvescould have gotten tired with the
format.
The story editor who'soverseeing the whole thing might
(26:56):
have gotten tired with theformat because by the way,
they're writing 65 episodes inless than a year.
That's a lot of content to churnout.
So they might've gotten boredwith it, the, their eyes fell
off the prize of what the showactually is.
But what I'll say is for a showthat needs to constantly reset
itself, sitcoms are like that,Police procedurals are like
(27:18):
that.
they are very, very, structured.
they have your first act, secondact, third act it's very, very
structured and everything sortof goes back to normal at the
end of it, especially your.
Police procedurals where thecrime happens, and then they've
got all the investigation beats.
So if you need to keep a show,to wrap up a status quo at the
end of every episode, then itshould be okay, beginning Matt
(27:42):
Scott Tbo and maybe others offin an interesting place.
PJ (27:46):
Yeah.
Adam (27:47):
or your other option is mysterious thing happens.
Two, Matt somehow called in toinvestigate or is there, and so
begins investigation.
Realizes something's a footassemble.
Mobile armor strike command.
So then you plug in yourstandard things, you do this
boom column, what see on thecomputer, then boom to Boulder
Hill, get the masks rollout, Andthen we go and we go on the
(28:10):
episode from there.
And then, uh, at the midpoint ofthe episode, around 11 minutes,
it's gonna be the mask, venombattle, mask is gonna lose.
And then towards the end of acttwo.
mask venom battle.
mask wins, saves the day.
Venom's defeated everythingreturns back to normal.
I feel like they just kind oftook their eyes off the prize of
what the show is.
if I were running this show, Iwould've said, here's the
(28:33):
structure.
Just follow it.
Because again, some 8-year-oldmight tune into episode 41 and
it's their first episode, and Igot no idea what's going on the
vehicles have some transformingin this episode, but not a heck
of a lot,
PJ (28:47):
we don't see much transformation.
one thing I'd like to track withyou,'cause I totally buy
everything you're saying.
in terms of the eyes of theprize.
I think it's two episodes away.
We're gonna get a new Venomcharacter and maybe a few more
we'll after that.
I'm curious, does that breathenew life into the writers by now
having something else to playwith
Adam (29:09):
Yeah.
PJ (29:09):
in many ways they have gotten tired with the toys
Adam (29:12):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
PJ (29:14):
we're seeing kind of this like, there's not a lot of, gas
left in the engine.
Adam (29:18):
Let's track that.
I'm very interested to see.
how that goes.
And I think we'll eventually beable to get some writers on the
show to ask questions about allthis stuff.
here's a case in point of anepisode not working.
this is gonna take us into theend of the first act, sort of
the end of the first act crisismoment.
If you can remember after ourtangent there, folks, we were in
the blimp hanger where Scott andt Bobb were seeing venom take
(29:41):
off.
So the blimp takes off, but tBob's foot gets caught in the
rope that's attached to thebottom of the blimp.
He gets pulled into the air,Scott grabs his hand and they
both get pulled into the air.
Scott screams, TBO do something,and then suddenly the rope comes
undone and Scott and Tbo go, youguessed it, falling to their
(30:02):
doom.
So just before I ask thequestion, we're all waiting to
be, to hear, this is just anaccident.
Uh, I mean, miles took off inthe blimp.
That's the only action Venomtook to put us in crisis here,
at the midpoint of episode 41.
That's not a mask episode.
That's like bumbling boy and hisrobot adventures
PJ (30:23):
It's true.
Adam (30:24):
But nonetheless, they're falling to their doom.
I gotta ask what's gonna happen.
PJ (30:29):
I don't care.
Also, I don't know, but
Adam (30:33):
Well,
PJ (30:34):
I have not been made to care.
this is actually a fundamentalproblem.
Adam (30:38):
and that is the whole point we've been talking about,
folks, we'll be back after thesemessages.
Come on, Jeebop.
Mask will be right back.
Oh, boy.
Back to mask.
We're back.
Scott and t Bobb don't faltertheir doom.
Scott hits the parachute buttonon T Bobb that he installed when
he, converted him to.
Drive at a hundred miles anhour, the parachute opens and
(30:59):
they float to safety.
I was thinking that his butt jetwould've helped though,
PJ (31:03):
Yes, a hundred percent.
This is the time for the ass jetto come out.
Adam (31:07):
right?
PJ (31:08):
blow it out.
Come on.
Adam (31:10):
Yeah.
PJ (31:10):
also like Scott, no one's saving him.
Like,
Adam (31:14):
Yeah.
PJ (31:15):
maybe this is the capability of Scott here, that he put the
parachute in there
Adam (31:19):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (31:20):
and he had to entirely save himself and t bobb this time
Adam (31:24):
Yep.
PJ (31:25):
To what extent Adam, is this like the deep neglect because he
went off on his own.
He didn't tell Matt, he's notsure Matt even is gonna care.
he's putting himself in danger.
And in this particular instance,with no one else around, he also
has to
Adam (31:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (31:39):
out.
Adam (31:40):
Yeah.
PJ (31:41):
is that of just him?
Adam (31:43):
we've talked a lot about this actually.
Is it Matt's fault or is itScott's fault that, that he's
in, he's in danger all the time.
Do we blame Matt for derelictionof parental duty and just
walking away from his kid?
'cause by the way, the last timeScott saw his dad He waved to
him nonchalantly and walked outof a room.
and now Scott's has sort of goneoff on his own.
PJ (32:00):
I think you and I as fathers should try and see what happens
if we did that to our
Adam (32:04):
Yeah.
PJ (32:04):
Like whatever.
Adam (32:06):
See you kid.
PJ (32:08):
Yeah, and then they drop the helmet
Adam (32:10):
mm-hmm.
PJ (32:11):
despite this really terrifying experience, they then
do the psych gag of tripping onthe helmet.
Adam (32:17):
Yeah.
here we spend all thisunnecessary screen time getting
the parachute packed away.
PJ (32:22):
Was this an fu to the story editor?
I'm trying to figure out,'causelike we're burning a lot of time
here.
Adam (32:29):
Yeah.
I think they got to the point,and I sort of alluded to this
earlier, where they probably gotto the point where with each
script it was like, look, ifit's English, we're gonna
produce it.
We've gotta churn out 65 ofthese things.
And I mean, they probably had avery, even I said a year, it was
probably like a few months thatthey had to churn all these
things out.
so it's like, look, whatever, ifit's spelled right, we're
(32:52):
producing it.
that's where I feel they got toAnd there's just some writers
who just didn't understandwhat's the point of these shows?
Like, what's the engine of amask episode?
PJ (33:00):
yeah,
Adam (33:00):
who wants to spend time seeing tbo get sort of carried
away by the parachute a littlebit and then have to, burn
rubber to catch up to theparachute and pack it away.
Like that's at least a minute orso of screen time, of a 22
minute episode.
PJ (33:13):
yeah.
Adam (33:14):
what's the math on that?
What percentage of the episodeis a minute long?
PJ (33:17):
A little under 5%
Adam (33:18):
Of an episode
PJ (33:19):
of an
Adam (33:19):
of, of T Bobb catching up to his parachute and packing it
away.
Like, guys, I'm sorry.
That's, a fail.
A huge fail.
Well, back at the racetrack,Scott and t Bobb explained what
they discovered and, Mattexplains the device they saw
attached to the blimp must be anEMP, which is another mat
Trakker leap of logic.
PJ (33:39):
A hundred percent.
it just occurred to me now,Scott and t Bobb had to go back
and explain Hey, we went to thishangar by ourselves without
telling you
Adam (33:50):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (33:50):
Venom, who we know in the past are these awful terrorists
and maybe child molesters did heexplain like, we nearly fell to
our doom because you weren'ttheir dad to watch over us.
Adam (34:02):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (34:03):
then Matt's, you know, no one says a word about any of
that.
Oh, it must be an mp.
imagine you're Scott at thispoint in time.
Adam (34:11):
I just feel so bad for the kid, as stupid as his decisions
are.
I still feel really bad.
I can't, I mean, you know, Ican't help but Blame his father
for his poor decision making
PJ (34:20):
Absolutely.
You and I came into this seriesand I think the perspective we
had is we were gonna take agiant dump on Scott, instead he
is become the most sympatheticcharacter in the series.
Adam (34:31):
Yeah.
He really, really has.
Well, now we spend some timetalking about the PA system.
So the PA system at theracetrack didn't stop working
because it uses vacuum tubes.
PJ (34:44):
All right, so this is gonna be on point.
true vacuum tubes are lessaffected by an EMP and now I
think we can establish thatMatch Trakker has owned this
place for a lot longer becausehe was too cheap to upgrade the
PA system.
Adam (35:01):
But like they all presuppose that Venom's masks
and engines have vacuum tubes inthem.
PJ (35:06):
This is
Adam (35:07):
what?
PJ (35:08):
Yeah, this was the bit where it was like kind of drove you
Adam (35:13):
Yeah.
PJ (35:14):
so let's hop on over to engineering corner a second to
Adam (35:16):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:17):
a vacuum tube.
So va, what is a vacuum tube?
it's actually the precursor totransistor, is used to control
the flow of current.
Adam (35:25):
Right.
PJ (35:25):
I'm going to try and be as generous as possible.
Adam (35:29):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:30):
The smallest vacuum tubes I'm aware of are 20 millimeters
in size.
Adam (35:34):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:34):
think of it as slightly less than an inch.
a modern transistor today comesin three to 10 nanometers.
Adam (35:43):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:44):
Orders of magnitude distance.
So even if the 1980s transistorswere one millimeter in size, and
that's big,
Adam (35:52):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
PJ (35:53):
you'd need 20 times the space replace them with the
smallest vacuum tubes, whichwould make for these ginormous
steam punk masks.
Adam (36:03):
Well, I was thinking of like, it's like vacuum tube
punk.
PJ (36:06):
Yeah, I know.
Adam (36:08):
it's kind of like the DeLorean in Back to the Future
when it has to replace itstechnology with vacuum tubes.
Yeah.
that, it's just ridiculous.
Especially after an episodewhere we learned what powers
these masks, which is amysterious crystal.
PJ (36:22):
Right,
Adam (36:23):
Okay, so it's space magic.
PJ (36:24):
Space magic.
Adam (36:25):
anyways, we're, we cut to the blimp and Vanessa is flying
it and they're on their way tothe International Safe
Corporation, which I'd like tojust pause and point out that
the International SafeCorporation is a sponsor of the
Mobile Armor Podcast show.
Do you need a safe, is itinternational?
(36:46):
Well, boy, you should go to theInternational Safe Corporation.
I've used international safes mywhole life.
How about you, pj?
I.
PJ (36:52):
I use them all the time.
The only way to keep your safe,safe is to use ISC.
The one requirement you need toadhere to is to give your safe
accommodation to the ISC so theycan keep it in a locked safe of
themselves.
Adam (37:05):
that's what I love about it.
That's what I love about theInternational Safe Corporation
is that I forget my combinationall the time, but I have a handy
dandy one 800 number that I calland they can just look up in a
book what my combination is.
PJ (37:15):
mm-hmm.
Adam (37:17):
thank you, international Safe Corporation for your
sponsorship of our show.
Back to the show.
Vanessa looks at Miles and askshim, are you sure that's the
International Safe Corporation?
Miles says, it better be, you'rethe one who's driving.
Vanessa responds, we could beanywhere based on the
instructions you gave me.
PJ (37:37):
We don't normally see that much SAS between Vanessa and
Miles.
Adam (37:40):
I know.
I mean, she's really giving itto Miles in this episode.
PJ (37:43):
I think she, Vanessa to me feels like the adult point of
view character
Adam (37:48):
Yeah.
PJ (37:48):
of the time where she's, and that explains why she just
doesn't show up for some of theJunkiest stuff
Adam (37:54):
Yeah.
PJ (37:55):
it's like, fuck that.
I've got better things to dowith my life than that rodeo.
I feel like she is like thatcommentary here of just like,
look, this is stupid.
Adam (38:05):
Yep.
the only rational person in theentire show is Vanessa Warfield.
PJ (38:09):
It really is.
Adam (38:11):
Meanwhile, the blimp
PJ (38:13):
Mm-hmm.
Adam (38:13):
over the International Safe Corporation.
They switch on the EMP causingall kinds of chaos below.
Street lights blow out, trafficlights stop, cars crash into
each other.
It's, it's, it's awesome.
Uh, sly and Cliff go into thebuilding.
We've got a nice use of stilettoto pin the guards against the
wall, one of Slys classictricks.
sly orders Cliff to open thesafe door because the electrical
(38:37):
equipment does not work.
And Cliff is supposed to be thestrong one.
PJ (38:42):
Yeah.
Adam (38:42):
Okay.
PJ (38:43):
once again, like this was a detail that felt highly
unnecessary as a piece ofdialogue.
Adam (38:48):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (38:49):
is huge though.
it's
Adam (38:50):
Yeah.
PJ (38:52):
giant safe door, so it's gonna be heavy, but also when
the power goes out, the locksare all blown.
Adam (38:58):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (38:59):
OMI Plaza?
Adam (39:00):
I had the same exact thought.
what's the other media pieceyou've watched that required the
power to go out?
To open up a safe door?
PJ (39:08):
Yeah.
Adam (39:09):
for a miracle.
I give you the FBI.
they enter a room full of safesand only one of them is open
they grab a leather binder thatcontains Brace yourself.
Every safe and bank vaultcombination in America.
(39:29):
This is a massive security risk.
I question the InternationalSafe Corporation, the one thing
I'll say if they're theinternational Safe Corporation,
uh, they only have the binderfor the ones in America.
So I wonder where theinternational safe combinations
are.
PJ (39:43):
That's a great question.
No, it isn't because this is areally silly premise, entire
thing, like I have to call andchange my, number so they can
white it out on the page andthen write in my new number.
So why would Matt know aboutthis and who owns the ISC and
mandates this kind of blatantsecurity hole?
Adam (40:05):
Yeah, I have no idea.
That's craziness, unless it'sMatt.
PJ (40:09):
Probably is.
So I'm gonna bug you on thewriting thing again.
Adam (40:13):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (40:14):
Venom has just opened a safe the directed EMP,
Adam (40:20):
I haven't even thought of this until now.
Yeah, go
PJ (40:22):
that Safe, had a safe inside of it for a book of combinations
for safes, but they just openedan all using the EMP.
Adam
Adam (40:36):
Uh,
PJ (40:38):
me
Adam (40:38):
I can't.
I can't.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
The safes that have thecombinations are analog, so an
EMP wouldn't open them.
There's my Writer's Defense Fundnomination right here.
PJ (40:53):
So basically you're saying that Venom wants to go after
safes that don't have modernprotection in them.
So he's intentionally goingafter low stake stuff.
Like he's not interested ingoing after, the bank vault in
New York with
Adam (41:12):
Yeah, he could go after the Federal Reserve, right?
Any of the Federal Reservebanks, you know what I mean?
Like he could go anywhere hewants to with this thing short
out, all the electronics goright into the safes.
but no, instead he wants to goto these little analog ones.
So my question to you is, doesVenom have any other tools for
opening safes?
I don't know.
I'm just wondering what aboutlike a power that kind of can
(41:35):
melt anything,
PJ (41:36):
Mm.
Adam (41:38):
with acid that could potentially be
PJ (41:41):
or an
Adam (41:41):
useful?
PJ (41:42):
that can slice through things.
Adam (41:43):
I wonder if only they had those.
It might make it all easier.
Panda poo.
PJ (41:48):
Yeah.
Adam (41:49):
Meanwhile, thunder Hawk, shark and Rhino are on their
way.
Matt knows what Venom is afterbecause he too knows about this
completely implausible book.
PJ (42:00):
So continue on the role here.
Matt says in the episode withhis EMP, no security system will
be able to stop him.
Why do you need the book?
Adam (42:13):
I know what is going on.
I feel like we're being punkedwith this episode.
I
PJ (42:19):
really, I, that's what I mean.
I'm wondering how much was thisa joke episode of just like, I
got past the story editorbecause they were on blow or
something like that.
Adam (42:29):
come on mask writers just do a little better.
I mean, I'm not that great awriter, but I could have done
better than this.
PJ (42:38):
I think you're a fantastic writer.
Adam (42:39):
Well, thank you.
But take the EMP idea and use itin another episode.
That's fine.
or put the whole twist on it.
the leather binder's notactually what they're after.
They thought that's what theywere after, but actually it's
not.
There's some other thing inthere.
uh, whatever.
So Scott and t Bob are followingalong cause that's what they do.
venom spots mask increases thepower of the EMP and TBO goes
(43:03):
outta commission.
But the mask vehicles are stillworking,
PJ (43:07):
Vacuum tubes for the wind.
Adam (43:09):
Is that what they did?
Did they install vacuum tubesinto all the mask vehicles
PJ (43:13):
I mean,
Adam (43:14):
and the masks?
PJ (43:15):
here's the deal, man.
that's the only thing that hasbeen offered in this episode.
Adam (43:20):
Does Matt have a bunch of vacuum tubes in the trunk of
Thunder Hawk?
Just in case,
PJ (43:26):
Slims don't move that fast.
Adam (43:28):
right?
PJ (43:28):
they actually had quite enough time to send the majet
out with vacuum tubes, modifythe vehicles, and then catch up
to venom because there was aheadwind.
Adam (43:40):
Yeah.
PJ (43:41):
unfortunately, it just took a lot longer to get, dude, I
mean, look, I don't know what to
Adam (43:45):
Uh, yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know either, man.
uh, thunder hawks takes to thesky.
It opens fire on the defenselessblimp, but like, if you open
fire on a blimp and it's filledwith helium.
it's going to crash.
PJ (43:58):
it's,
Adam (43:58):
He's out for blood.
PJ (44:00):
he's gonna murder these guys this time.
Adam (44:03):
But look, instead of crashing like it should, based
on.
physics, it goes curing throughthe air like a popped balloon.
PJ (44:12):
I,
Adam (44:12):
Oh, come on.
Uh, by the way, Matt says, havea bad day.
Mayhem.
PJ (44:17):
which is a, pretty petty thing for him to say given that
he just murdered Miles andVanessa.
Adam (44:23):
they should have immediately crashed to the
ground but instead they gocareening like a popped, party
balloon, that would've causedthem to die too.
eventually they would've crashedin that case too, but they
would've banged all around theinterior of that cabin.
So, and is it even worthpointing out that they could
have caught venom once and forall here,
PJ (44:39):
no,
Adam (44:40):
Yeah.
Well, sly and Cliff, comerunning outta the bank.
They are, completely cornered.
we have a torch versus aura maskpower exchange.
but somehow piranha andjackhammer escape.
so the chase is on now.
Piana and jackhammer beingchased by rhino and shark.
Rhino causes a bunch of safes tofall over, which stops piana.
(45:02):
sly finds a ramp.
He takes a big jump, flies overshark fires stiletto down at
Gloria.
She uses aura again to send thestiletto bolts back at sly
popping piranha's tires.
very good use of the mask powershere.
PJ (45:16):
it's mass powers for the win.
It's too little, too late.
Adam (45:19):
Yeah.
It's in the final seconds of theepisode, they're actually using
mask powers here.
PJ (45:24):
Yeah, but fine.
you've got your vacuum tube
Adam (45:27):
Yeah.
PJ (45:27):
now, it's part of the show, like
Adam (45:29):
It's, well, it's, it's the most mask part of the show and
it's probably all of 7% of theepisode.
So we're seeing real masks stuffhappening,
PJ (45:37):
yeah, yeah,
Adam (45:38):
predictably.
Slide drops the book.
Bruce uses Lifter to catch thebook midair.
and somehow they let JackCameron Piana get away, even
though they're completelycornered,
PJ (45:48):
yeah.
you're a hundred percent right,they're in what is nearly sort
of a gated area
Adam (45:53):
Yeah.
PJ (45:54):
and rhino's there, so Rhino would've had to back up for them
to exit.
Adam (46:01):
All this episode needed was Matt saying, like, Bruce
being like, we've got themquartered, and Matt's saying,
let them get away.
We've got the book and that'sall that matters.
PJ (46:10):
That would be on point.
Adam (46:12):
Well, we cut to the last scene here.
Matt and Company are returningthe book to the Safe company.
Scott and t Bobb finally showup.
At least Scott is wearing ahelmet.
and Scott says, did you see theblimp take off and master
responses?
Imagine how it must have feltwhen it landed.
And everyone laughs.
PJ (46:31):
They are having the most amazing GFA at this, like it's
full body laughter at the factthat these people are now all
dead.
Adam (46:39):
Yeah, that's so funny.
Oh, they're dead.
How hilarious.
Uh, back at the racetrack, weare rerunning the Indy 500.
it's about to take place andScott wants to install a fuel
injector in tbo, but Tbo runsaway scared.
And that's the episode folks.
PJ (46:54):
just before this happened, we do get a thank you from
Gloria to Scott for paintingStripes on her car,
Adam (47:02):
And then we spend a good five seconds showing Scott Wave
and give a thumbs up inresponse.
PJ (47:06):
so
Adam (47:07):
Thank.
PJ (47:08):
we got that bit here, as opposed to investing it anywhere
else.
Adam (47:12):
fade to black, cut to the more, you know, a firetruck has
arrived outside the Trakkermansion.
Someone pulled the fire alarmlike back in the day when they
had fire alarm, you know, uh,you could pull on a telephone
pole.
Scott says, now I know why.
Dad says never play with firealarms.
People in real trouble might notget the help they need.
(47:33):
And they're like, okay, that'sfine.
I've got two things.
One, I guess the kids in mymiddle school never got that
note.
'cause at least once a month,some miscreant pulled the fire
alarm.
Second one is, is theimplication that Scott and Teb
pulled the fire alarm?
PJ (47:49):
I am gonna double down and say, yes, you are right,
Adam (47:51):
Yeah.
PJ (47:52):
the firetruck kind of drive away from where Scott's at.
Adam (47:55):
Yeah.
PJ (47:56):
And my theory is Scott pulled the alarm just to see if
he was in trouble.
Would anyone actually care?
Adam (48:03):
Right, they're clearly at the front gate of the Trakker
mansion.
PJ (48:06):
Yes.
Adam (48:07):
They're not on some random street like Scott and Tbo are
outside the front gates of theMansion grounds and just staring
at the, like, what an odd place,but also to put a fire alarm,
like on a telephone pole rightin front of the Trakker, mansion
gate.
But, again, par for the coursefor this episode, which is a
giant steaming pile of pandapoo.
So we can call it right here,but might as well take a look at
(48:30):
our other awards, any BuddyHawks awards.
PJ (48:34):
I
Adam (48:34):
Interesting.
Right?
PJ (48:36):
one, like
Adam (48:37):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (48:38):
I was thinking maybe a sub-award for misogyny, for
miles, for Vanessa's driving.
Adam (48:43):
Yeah, a little bit from Matt too on Gloria's driving,
like, ah, you know, she's, she'sdoing pretty good.
PJ (48:48):
Yeah.
honestly, if there's any shiningmoment, I couldn't find any
racism in this episode,
Adam (48:54):
let's applaud the writer on that one.
PJ (48:56):
job,
Adam (48:57):
Well done,
PJ (48:58):
we don't know if there was a line cut for the sadism like we
talked about earlier.
Adam (49:03):
True, true.
sly Racks Ragdoll Award.
PJ (49:07):
I really think it's Vanessa and Miles and the Blimp after
Matt shoots him out.
Adam (49:11):
they are so dead.
RIP, Vanessa Miles.
we'll see you next episode.
Roy Batty Award.
PJ (49:18):
I mean, we've had a bunch of.
fucking with t bobb circuits.
Adam (49:23):
Yeah.
PJ (49:24):
exchange about the metal scrap yard
Adam (49:26):
Yeah.
Like the threat to dismantle tboand throw'em in a scrap yard.
PJ (49:31):
take your pick on that one.
Adam (49:33):
Yeah.
the Father of the Year award
PJ (49:36):
I don't know,
Adam (49:36):
man.
PJ (49:38):
like so many I did wanna point out the first time we see
him is Scott's abandoned.
Not in the suite, but in the pit
Adam (49:46):
And pit row, he's just this kid just hanging around
with his robot in pit row, whichis a very dangerous place.
PJ (49:51):
Yeah.
shit flying around all the timein there.
Adam (49:54):
cars are coming in, real fast into pit row.
and the crews are workingincredibly quick to change the
tires, et cetera.
So Scott is not in a safe place.
PJ (50:04):
no.
And then Matt abandons him.
feels the need to go off on hisown just to like explore a
hanger.
there's a lot of stuff in here,whether it's motivated or done
by Scott that feels reallymotivated.
The fact that the guy is justfeeling completely abandoned by
his father.
father year across the board,
Adam (50:21):
Across the board.
And as we said, this episode ispanda poo.
PJ (50:25):
poo
Adam (50:26):
Oh boy.
I mean, it's not as bad.
It's in a different categorythan carving your face on Easter
Island statues,
PJ (50:35):
yeah.
Adam (50:36):
that had some mask elements to it, like, I'm just a
Mask episode, even though thestakes were insanely low and
stupid.
This one is just another onewhere it's like, how is this
mask?
PJ (50:46):
That's the thing.
it really doesn't feel like maskat all.
And this is, I think we'vepointed out multiple times the
laziness and the apathy of thewriters actually really popped
through on this
Adam (50:57):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (50:58):
and it's really sad in so many ways because it's like,
look, if I was getting jazzed upto go see a mask episode and
we've, you know, even some ofthe not great ones are a lot of
Adam (51:09):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (51:09):
It's, this one is just like,
Adam (51:11):
Yep.
PJ (51:11):
of like, like a sad fart,
Adam (51:14):
Not just a fart.
A sad fart.
PJ (51:16):
a sad fart.
Adam (51:19):
Well, well, episode 42, uh, pull us out of this
tailspin.
It is the Artemis Enigma VenomPlans to steal a sacred horn
from a group of monks that isrumored to detect gold.
PJ (51:33):
I'm worried about this because, miles is going off of a
rumor, when we saw this withCaesar's sword, it must have
been a rumor that Caesar's Swordgave him all this power.
miles are we, like, we'reregressing again and it's not a
good sign.
can we get you help?
Adam (51:52):
Also, from a group of monks like.
How hard is it to steal a sacredhorn from a group of monks?
Just walk in and take it.
Now I get it.
Unless they're the shallow inmonks or something like that.
PJ (52:07):
But isn't that what Torch and Viper are for?
Like, I mean
Adam (52:10):
yeah.
PJ (52:10):
kind of like burn the temple to the ground,
Adam (52:13):
Yeah, well, please continue to join us on this
journey.
We really appreciate youlistening'cause uh, we need
people who are laughing with usas well.
For now though, this podcast isgonna transform and head back to
hq.
I am Adam Moore.
PJ (52:29):
And I am PJ McNerney.
Adam (52:31):
Bye-bye.
PJ (52:32):
Bye bye.
The mobile armored podcast showis written, produced and edited.
Bye Adam Moore.
And PJ McNerney.
Welcome to the Mobile Armored Podcast show, the
podcast that transforms into theHindenburg.
My name is Adam Moore, alongsidemy co-host best friend and blimp
expert, PJ McNerney.
How's it going, pj?
PJ (00:27):
I'm doing all right.
I'm gonna admit something.
this is getting us back to afrustrating trope
Adam (00:33):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (00:34):
where I think there's such brilliance behind so many of the
devices that Venom comes upwith.
Adam (00:42):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (00:43):
like whoever their science, like engineering core is.
They are really top notch.
Like they are an expansiveamount from computer programming
to attack Brian the brain.
They've got the ability tomanipulate gravity to bring down
a comet here.
They're gonna manipulate, adirectional EMP and we're gonna
(01:06):
use it for the shittiest ofthings.
Adam (01:08):
Yeah.
PJ (01:08):
Just get so tired of if I was on the engineering staff, I
would be shaking miles rightnow.
Like, what are you thinking?
What are you thinking?
You
Adam (01:18):
Let's talk about this.
Since you spent, you know,you've had a very long career in
software engineering,
PJ (01:22):
that's true.
Adam (01:22):
let's say you are the senior software engineer on this
project, and the VP isexplaining what he's going to
use it for, which is smallstakes, I mean, crimes,
whatever.
let's get the morality out of itand just say like, that's the
direction of this company thatyou're working for.
How would you handle that withyour vp?
PJ (01:42):
I love the idea where I just gave a presentation that says,
look, we have spent a tremendousamount of time, three members of
my team got cancer fromdeveloping a high energy
directional EMP,
Adam (01:55):
Yeah.
PJ (01:56):
we are really confident.
I mean, we're talking like realgenius, the movie level of
intellect required here.
Adam (02:02):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (02:03):
And it's like I get down to the presentation like, Hey,
we're really excited to see whatyou're going to use this EMP
four.
And
Adam (02:10):
Yeah.
PJ (02:11):
the VP or the director of product is like, oh, thanks so
much.
Our first mission is to rip offthe cash box of the Indy 500
Excuse me.
pardon me?
we have just spent millions ofdollars in research development
and priceless amount in terms oftalent develop something where
(02:36):
you might get 500 bucks cashhere.
Can we think a little bitbigger?
Adam (02:44):
And the VP's response is, we do a lot of thinking all the
time and appreciate yourfeedback.
thinking about your team, we aregonna have to do some headcount
reductions based on the factthat we're not meeting
profitability.
For some reason, finance islooking into the reasons why.
PJ (03:00):
We're gonna reduce head count and in venom that means we
cut your heads off'cause we area terrorist organization and we
can't allow you to say anythingto anybody.
Adam (03:11):
having set that up, we might as well dive into episode
41, stop motion.
Venom obtains an EMP bomb andthreatens to loot bank vaults
across the country by knockingout all electronics for miles
around,
PJ (03:26):
It's not a bomb.
Okay, let's just, it's not,
Adam (03:29):
no,
PJ (03:29):
their plan isn't to knock out electronics to rob those
bank faults.
We're gonna find that out aswell.
Adam (03:36):
It's,
PJ (03:37):
this tagline's wrong,
Adam (03:38):
I'm gonna do something wild here, pj, and I'm going to
go ahead and declare this pandapoon
PJ (03:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Adam (03:46):
right at the top of the episode.
PJ (03:47):
okay with that.
We've already entered panda pooterritory.
Adam (03:51):
So, we open and it's race day at the Indie 500 and in the
number 27 car, Gloria Baker iscrushing the competition.
Uh, naturally Matt and Bruce arein the VIP suite watching, and,
Matt says, considering this isGloria's first Indie 500, she's
doing great.
(04:11):
And it's like Matt, she'skilling it.
PJ (04:13):
Yeah.
Adam (04:14):
she's way in the lead.
no one is going to catch her.
PJ (04:18):
Why can't Matt give Gloria her do, is he jealous?
what is this?
Is it misogyny?
I don't know.
Adam (04:26):
Well, I guess he assumes that if he were there, he would
win.
he does have a flying Camarowith lasers,
PJ (04:32):
he would knock out the other car's,
Adam (04:34):
All the other cars broke down
PJ (04:36):
It's
Adam (04:36):
and couldn't complete the race.
PJ (04:37):
look, there's gonna be a lot of carpet bombing of this e
episode right here.
Adam (04:41):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (04:41):
gonna, but, I do want to call out something.
there's a nice set of detailswhere they show the blimp
hovering in the sky.
if you don't know what's gonnahappen, you don't think anything
of it,
Adam (04:53):
Right,
PJ (04:54):
and you're like, oh, it's just like the Goodyear Blimp at
wherever.
Right.
Adam (04:57):
right.
PJ (04:57):
But it's a nice detail.
There's seeding here and it'spart of my frustration.
Adam (05:02):
I agree because there's also a handful of throwaway
shots.
They're just race shots, andoften the distance really small.
You see the blimp above thetrack.
like, okay, someone was payingattention here as they were
animating it.
go ahead.
PJ (05:16):
you a bet last time about, about words.
Adam (05:23):
Yeah, I noticed that.
so after Matt says, she's doinggreat, Bruce says, I for one
wouldn't want to swallow herexhaust.
I did have to pause and justsort of shake my head.
what does that even mean?
PJ (05:39):
I honestly,
Adam (05:41):
or exhaust.
PJ (05:43):
I could not figure out why the writers would write that
line.
although, in my head, I heardMatt say I swallow her exhaust
Adam (05:50):
So, is it like, eat my dirt?
it could be that, it could bebreathe and exhaust, but there's
some disconnect
PJ (05:59):
it's a weird line, and at worst, it's like some, off
innuendo they're trying toinsert into a children's cartoon
that
Adam (06:08):
I would've liked them try to go for sadism here, but
instead they just went forsomething bizarre and probably
inappropriate.
PJ (06:16):
Adam, I'd like you to beep what I'm about to say out.
I would love to hear theresponse to it as a satm
Adam (06:22):
Yeah.
PJ (06:22):
I, for one, would not want to swallow her exhaust.
oh, you mean the way I eat herout or ass every single night?
Like, I mean, I just feel likethat would be the only version
of that where Sadism and Mattresponse kind of like makes
Adam (06:37):
Woo.
PJ (06:39):
yeah.
Adam (06:39):
I think that's gonna have to get bleeped out.
There are certain lines we donot cross.
well, meanwhile, in pit row,Scott is working on TBO
circuits.
I mean, he's got his head openand he is futzing around in
there, and Scott says, I bet youcould do a hundred miles per
hour now.
And Scott gives him a parachuteto slow him down.
PJ (07:00):
Okay.
So again, credit where credit isdue.
Adam (07:03):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (07:04):
Scott's able to get a hundred mile per hour engine
inside of a scooter.
Adam (07:08):
I don't know if that's,
PJ (07:11):
should you do it?
Probably not.
I mean, this is definitely oneof those Ian Malcolm lens right
Adam (07:16):
yeah.
Yep.
PJ (07:17):
you know, you spent so much time deciding whether or not you
could, you didn't
Adam (07:21):
So,
PJ (07:21):
or not you should.
Adam (07:22):
that's going to tear TB apart.
PJ (07:25):
And kill Scott
Adam (07:27):
Yeah.
PJ (07:28):
and honestly we saw this early on where Dusty gave Scott
some race fuel for some reason,
Adam (07:34):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (07:35):
this probably has to involve race, car fuel
Adam (07:38):
Oh, yeah.
PJ (07:39):
the amount of octane you need for a scooter to go a
hundred miles per hour.
Adam (07:44):
Yeah.
Not a great idea to put thatinto Tbu.
Meanwhile, an ominous blimp isseen in the sky, and as I
alluded to earlier, PJ is anexpert in blimp engineering.
is it a dirigible or is it ablimp?
PJ (07:57):
So, a dirigible is the broad term here.
this is somewhat science, butalso like a history corner.
a dirigible refers to a lighterthan air vehicle
Adam (08:10):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:11):
that's steerable.
So the idea of a lighter thanair thing is that, as opposed to
using bernoulli's principle andaerodynamics, the shape of the
wing to produce lift withthrust, which is heavier than
air vehicles, that's yourtypical planes, jets, et cetera.
pump some sort of gas that islighter than air.
(08:31):
Typically it's gonna be helium
Adam (08:33):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:34):
now a blimp basically refers to a non rigid, dirigible.
so what that means is it's likea gigantic balloon that is blown
up the particular shape of thattorpedo is chosen because it has
a better way of steering throughthe air.
when you think about Dirigiblesthough, and you, you speak of it
(08:56):
that way, the people arethinking about rigid
Adam (08:59):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (08:59):
like a Zeppelin.
Adam (09:00):
Right.
PJ (09:01):
this is where there is this internal structure that is rigid
both on the inside and outsideeven though the outside might
be, relatively light,
Adam (09:11):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (09:11):
And so when you think about a, hindenberg.
Adam (09:14):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (09:15):
as the most famous example of a rigid dirigible.
this was, a dirigible that wasfilled with hydrogen, and then
Adam (09:24):
Excellent choice.
well, I guess my question comesdown to, why a blimp in Venoms,
you know, and so if it was ahydrogen filled Zeppelin, for
example, they could actuallypotentially do some real damage
here if they wanted to sincethey're terrorists.
So why a blimp for this EMPdevice?
(09:46):
Why is that the platform?
PJ (09:48):
I think we got to get to a separate conversation about why
target the Indie 500 in thefirst place.
And what the stakes are there.
So let's, hold onto that for asecond because in one sense it's
a good way to hide
Adam (10:01):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:02):
why you'd want to do this at the Indie 500 for the stakes is
a different question.
Adam (10:07):
Yeah.
PJ (10:08):
we are gonna find out that, like we talked about at the top,
we have this directed EMP pulsecannon, right?
So what is EMP?
It's this rapid wave ofelectromagnetic radiation that
can damage or disruptelectronics.
some examples, lightning
Adam (10:23):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:23):
static electricity, but most of the time people are thinking
about it from a nuclearstandpoint.
Adam (10:28):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:29):
nukes produce an EMP,
Adam (10:31):
right?
PJ (10:32):
then you get into these non-nuclear ME mps.
So if you think about, the pinchfrom Oceans 11.
Adam (10:37):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (10:38):
if you take all of this in mind, like a blimp has
relatively few electronics, youactually could do the entire
thing without electronics.
Sure.
So.
Adam (10:50):
and a rudder,
PJ (10:51):
Yeah,
Adam (10:52):
all you need to.
Yeah.
Okay.
PJ (10:53):
as you're firing away from it there shouldn't be too much
backsplash.
this is a, somewhat reasonableway to say, let's put this stuff
on a blimp and we'll fire thisoff and not ourselves be
affected.
Um, terrible getaway vehicle.
But if you've damaged everyoneelse's vehicles, one will
actually be able to catch you.
So
Adam (11:13):
speaking of that, at EMP, let's just set up the fact that
while the race is going on,suddenly everything stops
working.
TV stopped working.
All the COR cars short out, evenTBO goes down.
the whole place is dead in thewater except for the PA system
where the PA guy says, we don'tknow what's going on, everyone.
sit tight.
we'll see what's happening.
PJ (11:30):
well talk about why, Potential reason why that's not
affected.
thing I'll point out is that theway you protect against an EMP
is a thing called a Faradaycage.
Adam (11:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (11:39):
So basically it's like surround yourself entirely with
metal.
It's has to do with theproperties with conductivity,
but the electricity would juststay on the outer shell of that
thing.
one thing that's a littlequestionable that no one's
really quite figured out, likearen't many cars just a metal
shell, especially if you're inthe 1970s or beforehand.
Adam (11:59):
Yeah.
PJ (12:00):
So there's been this open question, that I actually
researched and I didn't get agreat answer of how much a car
would be affected by any mp.
part of it has to do with themetal shell.
Adam (12:11):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (12:11):
to do with the number of electronics in it, which only
started happening with solidstate, post 75 or so.
Adam (12:18):
So the idea is would the Indy cars actually be affected
at all by this EMP?
PJ (12:22):
tough to say, and it's like, again, pro I I would err on the
side of, probably not, it'stheoretical one way or another.
Adam (12:32):
so far in this episode, we have discussed the Indy 500, the
properties of blimps,electromagnetic pulses, and
we've still not quite figuredout why Venom would use this
platform for their new weapon,Nevertheless, back in pit row,
Matt is studying the car thathas broken down and Bruce is
studying T bobb who is notworking.
(12:54):
Turns out that all the circuits,are shorted out.
PJ (12:57):
This is like, again, it's smoking in the engine.
I was trying to back my way into
Adam (13:01):
Yeah.
Tbo is too, right?
There's smoke coming out of tbotoo.
PJ (13:04):
coming outta tbo and on one hand he is definitely a metal
shell,
Adam (13:09):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (13:10):
in the middle of his brain working on him, so it wasn't
quite clear.
The only thing I could think offor the EMP and the mechanical
engine was if there's some smallcomputer controlling the fuel
injection
Adam (13:22):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (13:22):
that caused it to shoot the wrong amount of fuel through
that's a really hard thingbecause you're more likely to
flood the engine than cause itto smoke like that.
Adam (13:31):
Yeah.
PJ (13:32):
it's pretty short tail on that one
Adam (13:33):
Well the ticket guy comes running into pit row and screams
robbery, and it turns out thatCliff and Sly have stolen the
cash box from the Indie 500,which it's 1985.
I bet a lot of it was paid forin cash, and all they have is
just one little cash box thatmaybe at best is holding$10,000,
PJ (13:53):
if everyone was paying hundred dollars bills,
Adam (13:55):
Yeah.
point being, this is pretty hightech stuff, as we have pointed
out earlier in our sort ofscience corner and deep
discussion of the blimp and EMPand everything.
Pretty high tech stuff for avery, very low stakes crime.
PJ (14:12):
the last time I felt like we saw this was in Vegas where they
Adam (14:15):
Yeah,
PJ (14:16):
the reversing machine.
Adam (14:18):
right.
PJ (14:18):
at least then, the stakes were higher because there was
more money involved.
Adam (14:23):
Right?
PJ (14:23):
somehow we've taken an equivalent amount of technology
and lowered the stakes lower.
Adam (14:28):
Yes.
PJ (14:31):
fun little detail.
Cliff and Sly have both.
Gone to do this.
each of their vehicles can holdat least two
Adam (14:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (14:40):
And yet despite this, they have decided to go separately
Adam (14:45):
I can buy that because they like their vehicles.
They like to drive them.
for example, I like my vehicleand I like to drive that as
opposed to driving my wife'svehicle.
I'll grant them that They gotall the seats set up the way
they like'em
PJ (14:59):
but Adam, if you and I are going to rob the Indie 500,
Adam (15:03):
Yeah.
PJ (15:04):
wouldn't we take one vehicle?
Adam (15:06):
whose vehicle are you proposing to take, pj?
PJ (15:08):
I almost don't care.
Adam (15:10):
I will say probably four transit because it's gonna carry
more stuff,
PJ (15:14):
we can do the Ford Transit.
Adam (15:15):
Okay.
PJ (15:15):
so.
Adam (15:16):
back what I said.
PJ (15:17):
it's like, fine, you've got that sidecar slide, but let's
use jackhammer.
We can use the trunk.
Adam (15:21):
Yeah,
PJ (15:22):
that big a deal.
Like even if it was piana, justhold in your laps, cliff.
Adam (15:27):
yeah, seriously.
Well anyways, Matt and Bruce tryto chase after them, but
Thunder, Hawk and Rhino areshorted out by the EMP.
PJ (15:35):
this extra one seems much more in point because these
vehicles would have morecircuits in
Adam (15:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (15:40):
now MPS can affect circuits that are off,
Adam (15:44):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (15:45):
likely, like,
Adam (15:46):
Okay.
PJ (15:46):
you really are shredding these things out.
But maybe the mask vehicles arejust on all the time somehow.
Adam (15:52):
Back in pit row, Scott Repairs tbo.
And TBO says, you shorted out mypower circuit, you said, never
again.
And Scott's response was, itwasn't me this time, something
else went wrong.
PJ (16:06):
I love that this is a legitimate concern by T Bob.
like, Scott, you fucked with mycircuits before and done this.
You told me you weren't going todo it again.
Was like, no, I didn't.
I didn't.
I didn't this time.
Adam (16:17):
I also love the fact that, I mean, tbo was out cold.
PJ (16:21):
Yes.
Adam (16:22):
if Scott did it, he'd be like, no, something else went
wrong.
It wasn't me this time.
Matt returns to pit row andreveals that it was venom.
There's a nice Matt Gloriamoment when, uh, Matt tells
Gloria that the other driversdidn't have a chance.
He's like a really supportivehusband.
PJ (16:36):
He really is.
but how much taller is Matt thanGloria
Adam (16:40):
Yeah.
The perspective in the shot.
he's a giant.
PJ (16:42):
He
Adam (16:42):
I mean, either she is really short or he is really
tall or I guess both.
But the perspective isn't greathere, You know, the animation
here, Bruce is in thebackground, and you can see some
of the stands in the background,but none of it is sort of
blurred out to make it look likeit's in the distance.
So everything is so flat
PJ (17:02):
yeah,
Adam (17:03):
Bruce also looks like a small child standing next to
Matt.
PJ (17:08):
Despite that height difference Gloria knows she
could still slam Matt to theground.
Adam (17:12):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well, the announcer on the PAsystem calls off the race.
Matt realizes that the PA systemis working.
It was unaffected by theelectrical issues.
So he sends Bruce to check itout while Matt goes to look at
the security video.
PJ (17:29):
Yeah, this is okay.
We're gonna hit so many pointsof frustration where they
decided to spend some time.
Adam (17:34):
Yeah.
PJ (17:35):
spends time on the PA explaining to folks check the
newspapers for the race beingrescheduled.
Adam (17:42):
You know, I actually just re-watched the episode a few
minutes before diving in.
And I had the same thought,like, why are we spending any
screen time or voiceover timecalming the fake people in the
cartoon down that, don't worry,check the newspapers when we
reschedule the race.
PJ (17:59):
It,
Adam (18:00):
And also at the end of the episode they do the same thing.
PJ (18:02):
do do the same thing.
There's a bunch of stuff at theend of the episode where I'm
just like, why?
Why was
Adam (18:06):
We didn't need any of this.
PJ (18:08):
like, why don't we spend that towards story?
Adam (18:12):
What story
PJ (18:13):
so the PA system being affected seems odd and we're not
gonna get a good answer, butI'll insert one based on some
stuff we find out.
Adam (18:20):
mm-hmm.
PJ (18:21):
Matt looking at videos here does not
Adam (18:23):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (18:24):
So we know that in the eighties, Adam, what did we
record video on
Adam (18:30):
Videotape
PJ (18:31):
what technology was used for that recording?
Adam (18:34):
the good old magnet
PJ (18:36):
And what's the m in EMP stand for?
Adam (18:40):
electromagnetic.
PJ (18:41):
Right.
this should have gotten wipedout.
Adam (18:44):
Right,
PJ (18:44):
like the classic, don't put a magnet next to your cassette
tape
Adam (18:48):
right, Yeah.
PJ (18:49):
it's like, okay, fine.
Adam (18:51):
Well, Matt, unless the whole security room is a Faraday
cage,
PJ (18:54):
Maybe,
Adam (18:55):
but that's giving them way too much credit.
PJ (18:57):
true.
Adam (18:58):
Matt's in the security room, he's looking at the
videos, but doesn't findanything unusual.
So I guess he could just walkinto the security room at the
Indy 500.
Huh.
PJ (19:07):
Yeah, of course.
the Indie 500 sponsored byTrakker Industries
Adam (19:12):
he had a giant VIP booth, like huge, and it was just him
and Bruce in it.
So yeah, I guess he owns theplace.
PJ (19:20):
I like the idea of him, he went in and he said, Hey, I'd
like to rent a room, for this.
And they showed him a room.
This isn't big enough.
I want that one.
Oh, that's the owner's box.
Well then how much do I need topay to
Adam (19:33):
Yeah.
PJ (19:34):
I want the biggest room.
Adam (19:37):
By the way, at the end of the scene in the video room,
Scott and Tbo are there, andScott complains to Matt that
he's bummed out'cause theyhaven't seen anything.
And in response, Matt saysnothing and just walks away.
He actually waves his hand,like, not, like goodbye, just
like, sort of like brushes itoff like a, like a fly that's
bothering him and walks rightout of the room.
PJ (19:59):
How do you respond as a kid to that?
Hmm.
Adam (20:02):
I mean, how Scott responds.
Anytime Matt abandons him, likehe didn't even say, come on
Scott, let's go.
He just walks out and the doorcloses behind him.
Oh, Matt, father of the year.
PJ (20:18):
father of the year,
Adam (20:19):
in the absence of his father, Scott gets the great
idea about looking at the blimpscameras for a better view.
when they go outside, they seethat the blimp is gone.
T Bobb asks What keeps the blimpin the air?
Scott says, they're filled withhot air.
T Bobb says, sort of like youand Scott gets really angry,
(20:40):
which I would kinda get angrytoo.
Scott says, watch it.
T Bobb.
I saw a scrap metal yard nearhere.
That's a Roy Batty nomination,man.
PJ (20:49):
percent Roy Batty.
Also, again, like kind ofunnecessary from a, like, where
you spend your time as a writer,
Adam (20:56):
Yeah.
PJ (20:57):
like what is required here.
Adam (21:00):
Yeah.
PJ (21:00):
I think there is something nice about Scott taking us to
this idea about the blimp butshitting back and forth is just
kind of not necessary.
Adam (21:08):
Yeah, if you actually break it down, there's so little
that happens in this episode.
PJ (21:13):
Yeah,
Adam (21:13):
much of it is filled with unnecessary side quests, and
unnecessary dialogue.
PJ (21:18):
I love how Scott still has his helmet on it
Adam (21:22):
Yep.
PJ (21:23):
to me why until just now.
It's to
Adam (21:25):
is,
PJ (21:26):
tears, Adam.
It's to hide his tears.
Adam (21:31):
yeah.
PJ (21:31):
father just brushed him off without saying a word.
And, he keeps the helmet onbecause he he doesn't want the
the world to know how hurt heis.
Adam (21:39):
Good point.
Scott, goes, they go outside andthey ask a complete stranger
where the blimp is and.
Oh, folks, I just wish that yougot to sit to sit with me and
look at the surprises that PJputs in the rundown before me.
The stranger does not respond.
(22:03):
I, I, I'll, I'll, I'll, uh,I'll, I'll do some of it here.
So Scott asked a stranger wherethe blimp is and the stranger
responds, and here's what PJwrote.
Why do you think I would knowabout that?
Do I look like your tour guide,rich boy?
Go check the hanger.
And then lots of expletivesabout Scott.
PJ (22:27):
Sprinkled in there.
Adam (22:29):
What he basically says is, there was no blimp, but there's
a hanger nearby.
Why don't you go check that out?
PJ (22:33):
yep.
Adam (22:34):
And so Scott and t Bobb race off to the blimp hanger at
a hundred miles an hour.
PJ (22:39):
So I guess maybe that helmet's a good idea,
Adam (22:41):
Meanwhile, inside the hangar, they find the whole
Venom gang charging up somedevice on the blimp.
Sly is giving cliffs somepositive affirmations, He says,
you know, dagger, if only wecould hook you up to this
generator, we could charge yourbrain.
Nah, you'd only blow the fuse.
PJ (23:01):
This was so unnecessary.
Adam (23:03):
Cliff is like, you ought to keep your big mouth from
charging.
why do we need any of thisstuff?
PJ (23:08):
much anger, just unnecessary.
Adam (23:11):
So much anger and so much wasted.
Like why do we need any of this?
Do like why?
Just again, there's anotherepisode where there's but
there's very little mask in it.
miles Boards, the blimp and hesays to Sly and Cliff, who are
gonna take off in the car intheir vehicles.
You know the plan.
Now we go for the goal.
PJ (23:29):
maybe, you know, you guys all know the goal.
Maybe instead of doing the wholecomplaining back and forth with
Scott and t Bobb and and Sly, wecould spend some of that time,
setting something up for us.
Adam (23:41):
Yeah.
Yeah.
PJ (23:42):
is, as far as we know, ripping off race car cash boxes
Adam (23:47):
this is the whole point.
There's so much wasted dialogue,but then when you get to a point
where there should be dialogue,that actually helps us, eight
year olds who are watching theshow out and kind of build some
stakes.
PJ (23:57):
Yeah.
Adam (23:58):
Like he could even say, now to put our plan into action,
no safe in the country will be,
PJ (24:05):
Safe.
Adam (24:05):
Like at least that we're like, Ooh, now those are stakes.
Now I'm scared about whatVenom's gonna do instead.
Nope.
Just now we go for the goal andsly waves at him.
PJ (24:17):
I'll point out, one interesting thing that's missing
from this episode,
Adam (24:21):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (24:22):
we're not gonna see any mask, assembly, computer stuff.
We're just
Adam (24:25):
Oh,
PJ (24:26):
hand.
So there's a lot of stuff that'sactually missing from this
episode, even from our,
Adam (24:31):
Well, I know, let's just go on this tangent for a second
and then we'll get back to theshow itself.
So the show's in syndication,every episode could be the first
episode that anyone watches,right?
So we talked about that actuallyin, two episodes ago.
PJ (24:43):
yeah.
Adam (24:44):
when with the episode with Matt's dad, like it's really not
a mask episode.
PJ (24:48):
I.
Adam (24:48):
the thing that's key about the agents going to Boulder
Hill, getting the masks charged.
It's actually really helpful foranyone who's watching it for the
first time.
you understand there issomething called the mobile
Armored strike Command, thatthere's a computer that
identifies who these people areand the cool vehicles they have.
And then there's somethingawesome from a text standpoint
(25:10):
about these masks that they'reputting on their heads.
We might not know what thepowers are, but we see a cool
room that goes up into theradiation chamber of death and
the power supply, causes them toglow and they put them on their
head.
You know what I mean?
Like
PJ (25:21):
yeah,
Adam (25:21):
Visual storytelling for the show.
And again, many of theseepisodes we've been seeing
recently don't do that.
So I don't know if I'm a kid, ifI miss some of the first
episodes in the series, if I'mstill really plugged into what's
going on here.
PJ (25:35):
Let me ask you a question.
from a writing standpoint, doyou think this is symptomatic of
trying to satisfy twoconstraints that are completely
at odds with each other?
One is the idea that, like wechatted about a couple episodes
that was pointed out to us byJames that, the writers, weren't
able to affect any sort oflong-term change,
Adam (25:57):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (25:58):
other than the oddball hurricane or some of those new
agents that we're about to seein the upcoming episodes.
things have to be different, butthey can't change.
Adam (26:07):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (26:07):
are we seeing this as kind of like, well, the only thing we
can change if we can't changeanything, the only thing we can
change is the base formula Andso now we're hollowing out those
essential elements for the sakeof just having something.
Different, even though it's liketo what extent, is the fact that
we can't make anythingimpactful, harming even the
(26:30):
episodic nature of it.
Adam (26:31):
I would disagree with that.
I've got two thoughts on it.
PJ (26:36):
Yeah.
Adam (26:36):
One is, and I'll, I'll go sort of in, in to support what
you were saying, because we havea small group of writers and
we're writing, uh, let's, let's,let's talk about 65 for the
first season.
there may be lots of returningwriters, who wrote multiple
episodes and they themselvescould have gotten tired with the
format.
The story editor who'soverseeing the whole thing might
(26:56):
have gotten tired with theformat because by the way,
they're writing 65 episodes inless than a year.
That's a lot of content to churnout.
So they might've gotten boredwith it, the, their eyes fell
off the prize of what the showactually is.
But what I'll say is for a showthat needs to constantly reset
itself, sitcoms are like that,Police procedurals are like
(27:18):
that.
they are very, very, structured.
they have your first act, secondact, third act it's very, very
structured and everything sortof goes back to normal at the
end of it, especially your.
Police procedurals where thecrime happens, and then they've
got all the investigation beats.
So if you need to keep a show,to wrap up a status quo at the
end of every episode, then itshould be okay, beginning Matt
(27:42):
Scott Tbo and maybe others offin an interesting place.
PJ (27:46):
Yeah.
Adam (27:47):
or your other option is mysterious thing happens.
Two, Matt somehow called in toinvestigate or is there, and so
begins investigation.
Realizes something's a footassemble.
Mobile armor strike command.
So then you plug in yourstandard things, you do this
boom column, what see on thecomputer, then boom to Boulder
Hill, get the masks rollout, Andthen we go and we go on the
(28:10):
episode from there.
And then, uh, at the midpoint ofthe episode, around 11 minutes,
it's gonna be the mask, venombattle, mask is gonna lose.
And then towards the end of acttwo.
mask venom battle.
mask wins, saves the day.
Venom's defeated everythingreturns back to normal.
I feel like they just kind oftook their eyes off the prize of
what the show is.
if I were running this show, Iwould've said, here's the
(28:33):
structure.
Just follow it.
Because again, some 8-year-oldmight tune into episode 41 and
it's their first episode, and Igot no idea what's going on the
vehicles have some transformingin this episode, but not a heck
of a lot,
PJ (28:47):
we don't see much transformation.
one thing I'd like to track withyou,'cause I totally buy
everything you're saying.
in terms of the eyes of theprize.
I think it's two episodes away.
We're gonna get a new Venomcharacter and maybe a few more
we'll after that.
I'm curious, does that breathenew life into the writers by now
having something else to playwith
Adam (29:09):
Yeah.
PJ (29:09):
in many ways they have gotten tired with the toys
Adam (29:12):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
PJ (29:14):
we're seeing kind of this like, there's not a lot of, gas
left in the engine.
Adam (29:18):
Let's track that.
I'm very interested to see.
how that goes.
And I think we'll eventually beable to get some writers on the
show to ask questions about allthis stuff.
here's a case in point of anepisode not working.
this is gonna take us into theend of the first act, sort of
the end of the first act crisismoment.
If you can remember after ourtangent there, folks, we were in
the blimp hanger where Scott andt Bobb were seeing venom take
(29:41):
off.
So the blimp takes off, but tBob's foot gets caught in the
rope that's attached to thebottom of the blimp.
He gets pulled into the air,Scott grabs his hand and they
both get pulled into the air.
Scott screams, TBO do something,and then suddenly the rope comes
undone and Scott and Tbo go, youguessed it, falling to their
(30:02):
doom.
So just before I ask thequestion, we're all waiting to
be, to hear, this is just anaccident.
Uh, I mean, miles took off inthe blimp.
That's the only action Venomtook to put us in crisis here,
at the midpoint of episode 41.
That's not a mask episode.
That's like bumbling boy and hisrobot adventures
PJ (30:23):
It's true.
Adam (30:24):
But nonetheless, they're falling to their doom.
I gotta ask what's gonna happen.
PJ (30:29):
I don't care.
Also, I don't know, but
Adam (30:33):
Well,
PJ (30:34):
I have not been made to care.
this is actually a fundamentalproblem.
Adam (30:38):
and that is the whole point we've been talking about,
folks, we'll be back after thesemessages.
Come on, Jeebop.
Mask will be right back.
Oh, boy.
Back to mask.
We're back.
Scott and t Bobb don't faltertheir doom.
Scott hits the parachute buttonon T Bobb that he installed when
he, converted him to.
Drive at a hundred miles anhour, the parachute opens and
(30:59):
they float to safety.
I was thinking that his butt jetwould've helped though,
PJ (31:03):
Yes, a hundred percent.
This is the time for the ass jetto come out.
Adam (31:07):
right?
PJ (31:08):
blow it out.
Come on.
Adam (31:10):
Yeah.
PJ (31:10):
also like Scott, no one's saving him.
Like,
Adam (31:14):
Yeah.
PJ (31:15):
maybe this is the capability of Scott here, that he put the
parachute in there
Adam (31:19):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (31:20):
and he had to entirely save himself and t bobb this time
Adam (31:24):
Yep.
PJ (31:25):
To what extent Adam, is this like the deep neglect because he
went off on his own.
He didn't tell Matt, he's notsure Matt even is gonna care.
he's putting himself in danger.
And in this particular instance,with no one else around, he also
has to
Adam (31:39):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (31:39):
out.
Adam (31:40):
Yeah.
PJ (31:41):
is that of just him?
Adam (31:43):
we've talked a lot about this actually.
Is it Matt's fault or is itScott's fault that, that he's
in, he's in danger all the time.
Do we blame Matt for derelictionof parental duty and just
walking away from his kid?
'cause by the way, the last timeScott saw his dad He waved to
him nonchalantly and walked outof a room.
and now Scott's has sort of goneoff on his own.
PJ (32:00):
I think you and I as fathers should try and see what happens
if we did that to our
Adam (32:04):
Yeah.
PJ (32:04):
Like whatever.
Adam (32:06):
See you kid.
PJ (32:08):
Yeah, and then they drop the helmet
Adam (32:10):
mm-hmm.
PJ (32:11):
despite this really terrifying experience, they then
do the psych gag of tripping onthe helmet.
Adam (32:17):
Yeah.
here we spend all thisunnecessary screen time getting
the parachute packed away.
PJ (32:22):
Was this an fu to the story editor?
I'm trying to figure out,'causelike we're burning a lot of time
here.
Adam (32:29):
Yeah.
I think they got to the point,and I sort of alluded to this
earlier, where they probably gotto the point where with each
script it was like, look, ifit's English, we're gonna
produce it.
We've gotta churn out 65 ofthese things.
And I mean, they probably had avery, even I said a year, it was
probably like a few months thatthey had to churn all these
things out.
so it's like, look, whatever, ifit's spelled right, we're
(32:52):
producing it.
that's where I feel they got toAnd there's just some writers
who just didn't understandwhat's the point of these shows?
Like, what's the engine of amask episode?
PJ (33:00):
yeah,
Adam (33:00):
who wants to spend time seeing tbo get sort of carried
away by the parachute a littlebit and then have to, burn
rubber to catch up to theparachute and pack it away.
Like that's at least a minute orso of screen time, of a 22
minute episode.
PJ (33:13):
yeah.
Adam (33:14):
what's the math on that?
What percentage of the episodeis a minute long?
PJ (33:17):
A little under 5%
Adam (33:18):
Of an episode
PJ (33:19):
of an
Adam (33:19):
of, of T Bobb catching up to his parachute and packing it
away.
Like, guys, I'm sorry.
That's, a fail.
A huge fail.
Well, back at the racetrack,Scott and t Bobb explained what
they discovered and, Mattexplains the device they saw
attached to the blimp must be anEMP, which is another mat
Trakker leap of logic.
PJ (33:39):
A hundred percent.
it just occurred to me now,Scott and t Bobb had to go back
and explain Hey, we went to thishangar by ourselves without
telling you
Adam (33:50):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (33:50):
Venom, who we know in the past are these awful terrorists
and maybe child molesters did heexplain like, we nearly fell to
our doom because you weren'ttheir dad to watch over us.
Adam (34:02):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (34:03):
then Matt's, you know, no one says a word about any of
that.
Oh, it must be an mp.
imagine you're Scott at thispoint in time.
Adam (34:11):
I just feel so bad for the kid, as stupid as his decisions
are.
I still feel really bad.
I can't, I mean, you know, Ican't help but Blame his father
for his poor decision making
PJ (34:20):
Absolutely.
You and I came into this seriesand I think the perspective we
had is we were gonna take agiant dump on Scott, instead he
is become the most sympatheticcharacter in the series.
Adam (34:31):
Yeah.
He really, really has.
Well, now we spend some timetalking about the PA system.
So the PA system at theracetrack didn't stop working
because it uses vacuum tubes.
PJ (34:44):
All right, so this is gonna be on point.
true vacuum tubes are lessaffected by an EMP and now I
think we can establish thatMatch Trakker has owned this
place for a lot longer becausehe was too cheap to upgrade the
PA system.
Adam (35:01):
But like they all presuppose that Venom's masks
and engines have vacuum tubes inthem.
PJ (35:06):
This is
Adam (35:07):
what?
PJ (35:08):
Yeah, this was the bit where it was like kind of drove you
Adam (35:13):
Yeah.
PJ (35:14):
so let's hop on over to engineering corner a second to
Adam (35:16):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:17):
a vacuum tube.
So va, what is a vacuum tube?
it's actually the precursor totransistor, is used to control
the flow of current.
Adam (35:25):
Right.
PJ (35:25):
I'm going to try and be as generous as possible.
Adam (35:29):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:30):
The smallest vacuum tubes I'm aware of are 20 millimeters
in size.
Adam (35:34):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:34):
think of it as slightly less than an inch.
a modern transistor today comesin three to 10 nanometers.
Adam (35:43):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (35:44):
Orders of magnitude distance.
So even if the 1980s transistorswere one millimeter in size, and
that's big,
Adam (35:52):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
PJ (35:53):
you'd need 20 times the space replace them with the
smallest vacuum tubes, whichwould make for these ginormous
steam punk masks.
Adam (36:03):
Well, I was thinking of like, it's like vacuum tube
punk.
PJ (36:06):
Yeah, I know.
Adam (36:08):
it's kind of like the DeLorean in Back to the Future
when it has to replace itstechnology with vacuum tubes.
Yeah.
that, it's just ridiculous.
Especially after an episodewhere we learned what powers
these masks, which is amysterious crystal.
PJ (36:22):
Right,
Adam (36:23):
Okay, so it's space magic.
PJ (36:24):
Space magic.
Adam (36:25):
anyways, we're, we cut to the blimp and Vanessa is flying
it and they're on their way tothe International Safe
Corporation, which I'd like tojust pause and point out that
the International SafeCorporation is a sponsor of the
Mobile Armor Podcast show.
Do you need a safe, is itinternational?
(36:46):
Well, boy, you should go to theInternational Safe Corporation.
I've used international safes mywhole life.
How about you, pj?
I.
PJ (36:52):
I use them all the time.
The only way to keep your safe,safe is to use ISC.
The one requirement you need toadhere to is to give your safe
accommodation to the ISC so theycan keep it in a locked safe of
themselves.
Adam (37:05):
that's what I love about it.
That's what I love about theInternational Safe Corporation
is that I forget my combinationall the time, but I have a handy
dandy one 800 number that I calland they can just look up in a
book what my combination is.
PJ (37:15):
mm-hmm.
Adam (37:17):
thank you, international Safe Corporation for your
sponsorship of our show.
Back to the show.
Vanessa looks at Miles and askshim, are you sure that's the
International Safe Corporation?
Miles says, it better be, you'rethe one who's driving.
Vanessa responds, we could beanywhere based on the
instructions you gave me.
PJ (37:37):
We don't normally see that much SAS between Vanessa and
Miles.
Adam (37:40):
I know.
I mean, she's really giving itto Miles in this episode.
PJ (37:43):
I think she, Vanessa to me feels like the adult point of
view character
Adam (37:48):
Yeah.
PJ (37:48):
of the time where she's, and that explains why she just
doesn't show up for some of theJunkiest stuff
Adam (37:54):
Yeah.
PJ (37:55):
it's like, fuck that.
I've got better things to dowith my life than that rodeo.
I feel like she is like thatcommentary here of just like,
look, this is stupid.
Adam (38:05):
Yep.
the only rational person in theentire show is Vanessa Warfield.
PJ (38:09):
It really is.
Adam (38:11):
Meanwhile, the blimp
PJ (38:13):
Mm-hmm.
Adam (38:13):
over the International Safe Corporation.
They switch on the EMP causingall kinds of chaos below.
Street lights blow out, trafficlights stop, cars crash into
each other.
It's, it's, it's awesome.
Uh, sly and Cliff go into thebuilding.
We've got a nice use of stilettoto pin the guards against the
wall, one of Slys classictricks.
sly orders Cliff to open thesafe door because the electrical
(38:37):
equipment does not work.
And Cliff is supposed to be thestrong one.
PJ (38:42):
Yeah.
Adam (38:42):
Okay.
PJ (38:43):
once again, like this was a detail that felt highly
unnecessary as a piece ofdialogue.
Adam (38:48):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (38:49):
is huge though.
it's
Adam (38:50):
Yeah.
PJ (38:52):
giant safe door, so it's gonna be heavy, but also when
the power goes out, the locksare all blown.
Adam (38:58):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (38:59):
OMI Plaza?
Adam (39:00):
I had the same exact thought.
what's the other media pieceyou've watched that required the
power to go out?
To open up a safe door?
PJ (39:08):
Yeah.
Adam (39:09):
for a miracle.
I give you the FBI.
they enter a room full of safesand only one of them is open
they grab a leather binder thatcontains Brace yourself.
Every safe and bank vaultcombination in America.
(39:29):
This is a massive security risk.
I question the InternationalSafe Corporation, the one thing
I'll say if they're theinternational Safe Corporation,
uh, they only have the binderfor the ones in America.
So I wonder where theinternational safe combinations
are.
PJ (39:43):
That's a great question.
No, it isn't because this is areally silly premise, entire
thing, like I have to call andchange my, number so they can
white it out on the page andthen write in my new number.
So why would Matt know aboutthis and who owns the ISC and
mandates this kind of blatantsecurity hole?
Adam (40:05):
Yeah, I have no idea.
That's craziness, unless it'sMatt.
PJ (40:09):
Probably is.
So I'm gonna bug you on thewriting thing again.
Adam (40:13):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (40:14):
Venom has just opened a safe the directed EMP,
Adam (40:20):
I haven't even thought of this until now.
Yeah, go
PJ (40:22):
that Safe, had a safe inside of it for a book of combinations
for safes, but they just openedan all using the EMP.
Adam
Adam (40:36):
Uh,
PJ (40:38):
me
Adam (40:38):
I can't.
I can't.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
The safes that have thecombinations are analog, so an
EMP wouldn't open them.
There's my Writer's Defense Fundnomination right here.
PJ (40:53):
So basically you're saying that Venom wants to go after
safes that don't have modernprotection in them.
So he's intentionally goingafter low stake stuff.
Like he's not interested ingoing after, the bank vault in
New York with
Adam (41:12):
Yeah, he could go after the Federal Reserve, right?
Any of the Federal Reservebanks, you know what I mean?
Like he could go anywhere hewants to with this thing short
out, all the electronics goright into the safes.
but no, instead he wants to goto these little analog ones.
So my question to you is, doesVenom have any other tools for
opening safes?
I don't know.
I'm just wondering what aboutlike a power that kind of can
(41:35):
melt anything,
PJ (41:36):
Mm.
Adam (41:38):
with acid that could potentially be
PJ (41:41):
or an
Adam (41:41):
useful?
PJ (41:42):
that can slice through things.
Adam (41:43):
I wonder if only they had those.
It might make it all easier.
Panda poo.
PJ (41:48):
Yeah.
Adam (41:49):
Meanwhile, thunder Hawk, shark and Rhino are on their
way.
Matt knows what Venom is afterbecause he too knows about this
completely implausible book.
PJ (42:00):
So continue on the role here.
Matt says in the episode withhis EMP, no security system will
be able to stop him.
Why do you need the book?
Adam (42:13):
I know what is going on.
I feel like we're being punkedwith this episode.
I
PJ (42:19):
really, I, that's what I mean.
I'm wondering how much was thisa joke episode of just like, I
got past the story editorbecause they were on blow or
something like that.
Adam (42:29):
come on mask writers just do a little better.
I mean, I'm not that great awriter, but I could have done
better than this.
PJ (42:38):
I think you're a fantastic writer.
Adam (42:39):
Well, thank you.
But take the EMP idea and use itin another episode.
That's fine.
or put the whole twist on it.
the leather binder's notactually what they're after.
They thought that's what theywere after, but actually it's
not.
There's some other thing inthere.
uh, whatever.
So Scott and t Bob are followingalong cause that's what they do.
venom spots mask increases thepower of the EMP and TBO goes
(43:03):
outta commission.
But the mask vehicles are stillworking,
PJ (43:07):
Vacuum tubes for the wind.
Adam (43:09):
Is that what they did?
Did they install vacuum tubesinto all the mask vehicles
PJ (43:13):
I mean,
Adam (43:14):
and the masks?
PJ (43:15):
here's the deal, man.
that's the only thing that hasbeen offered in this episode.
Adam (43:20):
Does Matt have a bunch of vacuum tubes in the trunk of
Thunder Hawk?
Just in case,
PJ (43:26):
Slims don't move that fast.
Adam (43:28):
right?
PJ (43:28):
they actually had quite enough time to send the majet
out with vacuum tubes, modifythe vehicles, and then catch up
to venom because there was aheadwind.
Adam (43:40):
Yeah.
PJ (43:41):
unfortunately, it just took a lot longer to get, dude, I
mean, look, I don't know what to
Adam (43:45):
Uh, yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know either, man.
uh, thunder hawks takes to thesky.
It opens fire on the defenselessblimp, but like, if you open
fire on a blimp and it's filledwith helium.
it's going to crash.
PJ (43:58):
it's,
Adam (43:58):
He's out for blood.
PJ (44:00):
he's gonna murder these guys this time.
Adam (44:03):
But look, instead of crashing like it should, based
on.
physics, it goes curing throughthe air like a popped balloon.
PJ (44:12):
I,
Adam (44:12):
Oh, come on.
Uh, by the way, Matt says, havea bad day.
Mayhem.
PJ (44:17):
which is a, pretty petty thing for him to say given that
he just murdered Miles andVanessa.
Adam (44:23):
they should have immediately crashed to the
ground but instead they gocareening like a popped, party
balloon, that would've causedthem to die too.
eventually they would've crashedin that case too, but they
would've banged all around theinterior of that cabin.
So, and is it even worthpointing out that they could
have caught venom once and forall here,
PJ (44:39):
no,
Adam (44:40):
Yeah.
Well, sly and Cliff, comerunning outta the bank.
They are, completely cornered.
we have a torch versus aura maskpower exchange.
but somehow piranha andjackhammer escape.
so the chase is on now.
Piana and jackhammer beingchased by rhino and shark.
Rhino causes a bunch of safes tofall over, which stops piana.
(45:02):
sly finds a ramp.
He takes a big jump, flies overshark fires stiletto down at
Gloria.
She uses aura again to send thestiletto bolts back at sly
popping piranha's tires.
very good use of the mask powershere.
PJ (45:16):
it's mass powers for the win.
It's too little, too late.
Adam (45:19):
Yeah.
It's in the final seconds of theepisode, they're actually using
mask powers here.
PJ (45:24):
Yeah, but fine.
you've got your vacuum tube
Adam (45:27):
Yeah.
PJ (45:27):
now, it's part of the show, like
Adam (45:29):
It's, well, it's, it's the most mask part of the show and
it's probably all of 7% of theepisode.
So we're seeing real masks stuffhappening,
PJ (45:37):
yeah, yeah,
Adam (45:38):
predictably.
Slide drops the book.
Bruce uses Lifter to catch thebook midair.
and somehow they let JackCameron Piana get away, even
though they're completelycornered,
PJ (45:48):
yeah.
you're a hundred percent right,they're in what is nearly sort
of a gated area
Adam (45:53):
Yeah.
PJ (45:54):
and rhino's there, so Rhino would've had to back up for them
to exit.
Adam (46:01):
All this episode needed was Matt saying, like, Bruce
being like, we've got themquartered, and Matt's saying,
let them get away.
We've got the book and that'sall that matters.
PJ (46:10):
That would be on point.
Adam (46:12):
Well, we cut to the last scene here.
Matt and Company are returningthe book to the Safe company.
Scott and t Bobb finally showup.
At least Scott is wearing ahelmet.
and Scott says, did you see theblimp take off and master
responses?
Imagine how it must have feltwhen it landed.
And everyone laughs.
PJ (46:31):
They are having the most amazing GFA at this, like it's
full body laughter at the factthat these people are now all
dead.
Adam (46:39):
Yeah, that's so funny.
Oh, they're dead.
How hilarious.
Uh, back at the racetrack, weare rerunning the Indy 500.
it's about to take place andScott wants to install a fuel
injector in tbo, but Tbo runsaway scared.
And that's the episode folks.
PJ (46:54):
just before this happened, we do get a thank you from
Gloria to Scott for paintingStripes on her car,
Adam (47:02):
And then we spend a good five seconds showing Scott Wave
and give a thumbs up inresponse.
PJ (47:06):
so
Adam (47:07):
Thank.
PJ (47:08):
we got that bit here, as opposed to investing it anywhere
else.
Adam (47:12):
fade to black, cut to the more, you know, a firetruck has
arrived outside the Trakkermansion.
Someone pulled the fire alarmlike back in the day when they
had fire alarm, you know, uh,you could pull on a telephone
pole.
Scott says, now I know why.
Dad says never play with firealarms.
People in real trouble might notget the help they need.
(47:33):
And they're like, okay, that'sfine.
I've got two things.
One, I guess the kids in mymiddle school never got that
note.
'cause at least once a month,some miscreant pulled the fire
alarm.
Second one is, is theimplication that Scott and Teb
pulled the fire alarm?
PJ (47:49):
I am gonna double down and say, yes, you are right,
Adam (47:51):
Yeah.
PJ (47:52):
the firetruck kind of drive away from where Scott's at.
Adam (47:55):
Yeah.
PJ (47:56):
And my theory is Scott pulled the alarm just to see if
he was in trouble.
Would anyone actually care?
Adam (48:03):
Right, they're clearly at the front gate of the Trakker
mansion.
PJ (48:06):
Yes.
Adam (48:07):
They're not on some random street like Scott and Tbo are
outside the front gates of theMansion grounds and just staring
at the, like, what an odd place,but also to put a fire alarm,
like on a telephone pole rightin front of the Trakker, mansion
gate.
But, again, par for the coursefor this episode, which is a
giant steaming pile of pandapoo.
So we can call it right here,but might as well take a look at
(48:30):
our other awards, any BuddyHawks awards.
PJ (48:34):
I
Adam (48:34):
Interesting.
Right?
PJ (48:36):
one, like
Adam (48:37):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (48:38):
I was thinking maybe a sub-award for misogyny, for
miles, for Vanessa's driving.
Adam (48:43):
Yeah, a little bit from Matt too on Gloria's driving,
like, ah, you know, she's, she'sdoing pretty good.
PJ (48:48):
Yeah.
honestly, if there's any shiningmoment, I couldn't find any
racism in this episode,
Adam (48:54):
let's applaud the writer on that one.
PJ (48:56):
job,
Adam (48:57):
Well done,
PJ (48:58):
we don't know if there was a line cut for the sadism like we
talked about earlier.
Adam (49:03):
True, true.
sly Racks Ragdoll Award.
PJ (49:07):
I really think it's Vanessa and Miles and the Blimp after
Matt shoots him out.
Adam (49:11):
they are so dead.
RIP, Vanessa Miles.
we'll see you next episode.
Roy Batty Award.
PJ (49:18):
I mean, we've had a bunch of.
fucking with t bobb circuits.
Adam (49:23):
Yeah.
PJ (49:24):
exchange about the metal scrap yard
Adam (49:26):
Yeah.
Like the threat to dismantle tboand throw'em in a scrap yard.
PJ (49:31):
take your pick on that one.
Adam (49:33):
Yeah.
the Father of the Year award
PJ (49:36):
I don't know,
Adam (49:36):
man.
PJ (49:38):
like so many I did wanna point out the first time we see
him is Scott's abandoned.
Not in the suite, but in the pit
Adam (49:46):
And pit row, he's just this kid just hanging around
with his robot in pit row, whichis a very dangerous place.
PJ (49:51):
Yeah.
shit flying around all the timein there.
Adam (49:54):
cars are coming in, real fast into pit row.
and the crews are workingincredibly quick to change the
tires, et cetera.
So Scott is not in a safe place.
PJ (50:04):
no.
And then Matt abandons him.
feels the need to go off on hisown just to like explore a
hanger.
there's a lot of stuff in here,whether it's motivated or done
by Scott that feels reallymotivated.
The fact that the guy is justfeeling completely abandoned by
his father.
father year across the board,
Adam (50:21):
Across the board.
And as we said, this episode ispanda poo.
PJ (50:25):
poo
Adam (50:26):
Oh boy.
I mean, it's not as bad.
It's in a different categorythan carving your face on Easter
Island statues,
PJ (50:35):
yeah.
Adam (50:36):
that had some mask elements to it, like, I'm just a
Mask episode, even though thestakes were insanely low and
stupid.
This one is just another onewhere it's like, how is this
mask?
PJ (50:46):
That's the thing.
it really doesn't feel like maskat all.
And this is, I think we'vepointed out multiple times the
laziness and the apathy of thewriters actually really popped
through on this
Adam (50:57):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (50:58):
and it's really sad in so many ways because it's like,
look, if I was getting jazzed upto go see a mask episode and
we've, you know, even some ofthe not great ones are a lot of
Adam (51:09):
Mm-hmm.
PJ (51:09):
It's, this one is just like,
Adam (51:11):
Yep.
PJ (51:11):
of like, like a sad fart,
Adam (51:14):
Not just a fart.
A sad fart.
PJ (51:16):
a sad fart.
Adam (51:19):
Well, well, episode 42, uh, pull us out of this
tailspin.
It is the Artemis Enigma VenomPlans to steal a sacred horn
from a group of monks that isrumored to detect gold.
PJ (51:33):
I'm worried about this because, miles is going off of a
rumor, when we saw this withCaesar's sword, it must have
been a rumor that Caesar's Swordgave him all this power.
miles are we, like, we'reregressing again and it's not a
good sign.
can we get you help?
Adam (51:52):
Also, from a group of monks like.
How hard is it to steal a sacredhorn from a group of monks?
Just walk in and take it.
Now I get it.
Unless they're the shallow inmonks or something like that.
PJ (52:07):
But isn't that what Torch and Viper are for?
Like, I mean
Adam (52:10):
yeah.
PJ (52:10):
kind of like burn the temple to the ground,
Adam (52:13):
Yeah, well, please continue to join us on this
journey.
We really appreciate youlistening'cause uh, we need
people who are laughing with usas well.
For now though, this podcast isgonna transform and head back to
hq.
I am Adam Moore.
PJ (52:29):
And I am PJ McNerney.
Adam (52:31):
Bye-bye.
PJ (52:32):
Bye bye.
The mobile armored podcast showis written, produced and edited.
Bye Adam Moore.
And PJ McNerney.
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