Episode Eight: Thingy

We’re back, ladies and gents! Okay, so, finals are being a bit lenient, so we’re taking the time to get this up right now! Alexia, before we start, is there anything you’d like to say?

(Hi! Now, let’s get this show started!)

Alright! This is THINGY!

The episode begins with the team on Ranger 7, collecting rocks to turn to robot fuel. The planet is barren, but the boy hero spots a lone creature: a small blue hairball with red eyes.

(It’s so cute!)

The discovery is so surprising that one of the monkeys accidentally ends up causing an avalanche, leading to the first action sequence of the episode to rescue it. The team leader takes an immediate liking to the creature.

He decides to bring it back to the Super Robot. The rest of the team is cool with it… except Gibson.

(Hmph! Just like Gibson to hate on anything that doesn’t involve science…Also, Chiro uses all of his imagination to name the creature thingy, by the way. Real creative, buddy.)

Chiro and Thingy’s playing  causes an accident in Gibson’s lab and he announces that he thinks Thingy might be some new breed of monster, since it’s messing with the Robot’s innards.

He decides to uncover the truth…

Meanwhile, the rest of the team decides to do a little training. All is going well until the training system decides to flip its lid and attack everyone! They survive, of course.

(They have to or the show ends halfway through the first season.)

The problem, apparently, was that Thingy was rolling around in the control panel and caused it to malfunction, much to the monkeys’ irritation.

(Oh! This is my favorite part of the episode! Let me tell it! Please?)

Go on ahead.

(All right! Gibson appears on their big screen- why do they have that in a training room? – ready to tell them of his grand discovery until he gets locked inside his lab and pulled out of the airlock! The best part of this scene is the warning. “Warning: Airlock breached. Outer door opened. You may be pulled into outer space and your doom.” First, that is the most hilarious unnecessary last line ever! Second, the voice sounds so nonchalant that it might’ve just yawned at the end. Third, is the warning really necessary? I mean, the airlock just opened! You’d think he’d know he was in trouble, right?)

You make a good point…

Well, the team starts their rescue, but that’s when everything goes downhill as the Robot starts malfunctioning, courtesy of one fuzzball’s adventures. But with a bit of luck, they grab him.

However, Thingy must be quarantined in a cage.

(And this is the part where Thingy turns into a large bipedal monster and attacks them. Sparks is right-“This is where Gibson would say ‘I told you so.’”)

Thingy is just scared, so Chiro calms him down. But they still put him in a cage.

(LAME!)

Gibson suddenly appears (How’d he get out of the healing tank?) and shows them what he learned. Apparently, Thingy was housing a static virus made by Skeleton King to attack machines. And the virus had infected at least one Monkey Team member. Each monkey is scanned, only for the computer to blow up. Chiro orders Gibson to fix the machines while the other four are sent them to their rooms.

(But suddenly, it’s revealed that GIBSON has the virus. DUN DUN DUN!

He mutates and sets the Robot on route to the planet. Once they land, the deformed primate tells his teammates that he wasn’t the only one infected while he tries to attack Thingy, who escapes. In fact, all the monkeys should be infected! But since they aren’t, he’s going to dissect them all later. But the worst part of it is that THE SUPER ROBOT IS INFECTED! NOOOO!

(Also, the virus covers the infected one’s insides with moss or spinach or something… weird…)

The attack on the city begins and all looks hopeless until the most unexpected hero shows up. It’s Thingy!

He frees Chiro, who realizes that his little pet holds the antivirus in his saliva; when he licked the other monkeys earlier in the episode, he made them immune- except Gibson, who was being… Gibson.

Speaking of Gibson, he tosses the creature out of the Robot and tries to stomp it.

(No!)

But I think he forgot about Thingy’s super form! And so, the two giants decide to duke it out in the middle of the city.

(Yes!)

Meanwhile, Chiro manages to free one of his hands and punches a hole in the Robot’s chest. He gets the other monkeys to keep the Robot as still as possible and puts his plan into action. Using his holographic projector and his microphone, he tricks Thingy into spreading the cure throughout the Robot, curing it.

(And since Gibson was such a bad monkey, he gets handed right to the monster pet for his special treatment.)

Moving on! Now that the day is saved once again and everyone is back to normal, everyone can be happy especially Gibson, who manages to find thingy’s home planet, much to Chiro’s short-lived dismay. The episode ends with the team all teasing Gibson before Thingy gives him a lovely goodbye present.

NEW CHARACTER(S)

THINGY: This fuzz ball is a decent one shot character. He’s small and cute, and what little personality he has is nice. He shines the most in his monster form, since it can grow to be Robot-sized. There isn’t much to say about the thing.

UNANSWERED QUESTION(S)

1)      Will Thingy ever be seen again? Where does it come from? What species is it?

2)      Will the other monkeys turn evil during the show?

FINAL THOUGHTS

This episode is an example of good evil plans: infiltrate the enemy base with something harmless and attack from within. The problems are similar to real life as well, as taking care of a pet is harder than it looks. And I think this is the first episode I thought Gibson was interesting.

(I still think that using elevators is a better take-over-the-world plan. And I have a serious problem with this plan. It needed to rely on a lot of luck for it to work. I mean, what if most of the team had agreed with Gibson and not allowed Chiro to keep him? What if they never found him at all? What if Chiro had ended up being allergic to Thingy’s fur? Then what?!?

And I have to agree with you about Gibson. His evil self was pretty cool while it lasted.)

Okay, then. This was a good way to get back in the groove. Let’s start working on the next one! Bye everyone!

(Bye!)