| listing and airdates | BMEG | season by season |
"ROAD RAVENS"
Written By: Pamela Hickey and Dennys McCoy
Produced By: Tom Tataranowicz
Directed By: Tom Tataranowicz
Executive Producer: Rick Ungar
INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY NOTE
Remember how I said that each of the mice gets a "spotlight" episode during the first season? Well, here's Throttle's day in the sun. "Road Ravens" features the bespectacled leader of the Biker Mice kicking butt and taking names. Also, lots of great animated violence, and Charley's hot biker chick outfit!
I also refer to several trucks here as "semis". I don't know exactly what a semi is--just that it's a kind of truck. Since I needed synonyms for "truck" when I was writing this, I refer to all the large trucks in this episode as semis on occasion throughout this summary. So no e-mails saying, "That's not a semi! That's a yadda yadda!", okay? That said, let's go!
EPISODE SYNOPSIS
Chicago isn't the city that never sleeps, but it's usually a great deal more lively than it is at the beginning of this episode. The normally bustling metropolis is practically a ghost down. Not a single car is visible on its usually congested streets. The only traffic amounts to a few scraps of paper drifting down the road. The air is just as free of noise and pollution. But why?
The camera continues to pan over the silent city, eventually reaching the radio station WSGB, home of the Biker Mice's favorite DJ, Sweet Georgie Brown. He begins to voice-over as we move throughout the city.
"Hey, out there, Chicago," he says slowly, lazily. "Who put the 'shhhhh' in Chi-town? Dudes, it's muey quiet outside. No traffic, no crowds, no lines at the gas pumps. Looks like all those gas-truck hijackings are takin' the wind out of the Windy City. It's all such a mellow vibe, I thought maybe we'd just drift away with a little easy-listening New Age meditation music….
"NOT!"
The music quickly changes to the usual heavy metal/hard rock of WSGB, and we abruptly find ourselves just outside the Last Chance Garage, where the Biker Mice are amusing themselves with a game called brodies and bottles (I'm guessing at the spelling here). Here's a bare-bones description of the game: a puddle of gasoline (or some other slippery fluid) is spread out on the ground. A bottle is placed in the puddle. The riders back up a certain distance from the bottle, then ride toward it. When you're within a few feet of the bottle, you turn around and skid to a stop, trying to get your back tire as close as you can to the bottle. Whoever comes nearest without knocking it down is the winner.
Vinnie is the second of the mice to go (Throttle went before him, but we don't see that). He does a good job, edging his bike past the current marker--a circle with a T inscribed in it on the ground. The white-furred mouse proudly draws his sign in the gas, then crows, "Yes! I beat Throttle! I'm the baron of brodies! The baddest mamajammer this side of Betelgeuse!"
As Vinnie continues to pat himself on the back, Throttle and Modo wave cordially from the other end of their playing field, all the while aware that they have to do something to counteract Vinnie's ego before this victory makes it swell out of control.
"You'd better smoke him, or we'll never hear the end of this," Throttle tells his bro, grimacing.
"No sweat, pard," Modo replies firmly. "No one beats me at brodies and bottles!"
Vinnie rides up.
"Hey, did you check my skid?" he asks proudly. "Man, I can't believe Charley missed out on such a monumental triumph!"
"She had to pick up more gas," Throttle explains.
"Yeah, even though you see to be pumpin' plenty yourself!" Modo gibes, patting Vinnie hard on the head before he starts out on his run.
"Hey!" Vinnie shouts, annoyed.
Modo continues laughing as he races down the street, toward the bottle.
"Whoah, Lil' Hoss!" he calls out as he puts on the brakes.
The mouse's rear tire comes within a hair's breadth of the bottle, easily beating both Vinnie and Throttle. Modo uses his arm cannon to trace a circled M in the puddle. He blows the smoke off both barrels.
"Smoked."
"Aw, just 'cause I cleared the track for ya!" Vinnie snaps, irritated by what he sees as an upset victory.
Throttle looks behind him, and sees an approaching semi.
"Tell it to Charley," he laughs. "Here comes the lady now."
"Cool!" Vinnie cries. "When she gets here, I'll take another shot. And this time--"
Before Vinnie can finish his sentence, the truck begins careening wildly out of control. It slides and swerves all over the street, striking trashcans and other objects, all the while barreling down on the Biker Mice. Charley usually isn't such a poor driver, but, as Throttle quickly discovers, she ain't at the wheel. The mechanic isn't visible in the vehicle's cab, and neither is anyone else.
"Charley ain't in it! Nobody's driving!" the leader of the mice shouts.
Vinnie turns and shouts down the street, "Modo! Better book, bro!"
Modo, still on the brodie, is making some adjustments to his bike when he hears Vinnie's call and sees the semi coming straight at him.
"Heck of a time to overhaul my engine!" he grouses (still holding it in his hands).
The gray-furred mouse tries to push himself and his bike out of the truck's path, but the brodie is so slick that he and his ride immediately fall to the ground.
Modo starts to crawl to his feet --only to see the grill of the truck right in his face.
The truck continues to barrel down the street. Modo's horrified bros watch in--what else?--horror as they see their compardre go down, unable to get out of the puddle of gas (and in case you're wondering how Modo could be within bare inches of being roadkill before the cliffhanger and then the truck is up where Throttle and Vinnie are afterward, try not to think about it too much. Logic doesn't apply during the Cliffhanger segment).
"MODO!" Vinnie shouts.
But the rampaging semi gets to the two of them first, very quickly prompting the two other Biker Mice to action first (starting with getting out of the vehicle's way).
"You take the truck!" Throttle shouts. "I'll grab Modo!"
The two mice split up, Vinnie racing over to the truck, Throttle driving to beat Hell down the street.
The white-furred mouse reaches his goal first. He jumps from his bike onto the side of the truck, then reaches through the window to open the door to let himself in. There's a surprise waiting for him on the seat--an unmoving and apparently unconscious Charley.
"Oh man!" Vinnie shouts, horrified. "Charley!"
Vinnie quickly closes the door and takes the wheel himself. He tries his damndest to get the truck to stop, but it's moving so quickly by this point that the sudden application of the brakes only makes it swerve and veer even more. And Modo is about to become the day's special at the Roadkill Café…
Suddenly, just before the truck is about to hit the gray-furred mouse, Throttle zips between them. He obviously intends to just reach a hand out to Modo and pull him to safety, but the slick brodie causes him to slip as well. As a result, Throttle and his bike slam into Modo and his bike. The two (or maybe that should be four?) of them go skidding out of harm's way.
So that takes care of Modo. But what about the truck and Charley?
Having done his best to bring the semi to a halt, Vinnie realizes that there's no way he can get it to stop in time. He opts instead to get himself and Charley out of there before they end up the victims of a head-on collision with a building. The white-furred mouse picks the mechanic up and leaps out of the cab. They hit the ground rolling mere seconds before the truck crashes. It strikes a building at the end of the street so hard that it immediately begins to crumple. The truck turns on its side as it comes to a final halt (I know what you're thinking--why didn't Vinnie just jump on his bike? My guess is that carrying Charley like that would've thrown his weight too much off balance for him to land safely on his ride. Besides that, at the speed the truck was moving, it might not have gotten there in time. That, and if he didn't jump, he wouldn't get hurt, and that's important to the episode). By the way, if you have a good slow/pause feature on your VCR, you can see Vinnie's arm breaking during this sequence, sort of. When he and Charley leap out of the cab, Vinnie hits the ground first with his arm. In the subsequent frames, as he rolls out of view, you can see him screaming in pain. Just thought I'd bring that up.
A few yards away, Throttle and Modo lay sprawled out on the ground, slowly coming to after their crash. Modo is fully conscious, but it takes Throttle a moment to get around. He pushes himself up to his knees off the pavement, obviously feeling some serious pain from the impact, and looks up at his bro (if you notice, his tail is missing in this shot).
"You got your pieces intact, Big Fella?" the tan-furred mouse asks weakly.
Modo, who is sitting up but clutching the lower half of his right leg in obvious pain, grits his teeth and grumbles good-naturedly, "Some hero you are! You saved my life but busted my leg! I don't know whether to hug you or hit you!"
Throttle grins and chuckles, "I'd rather have either than be peelin' you off the wall."
The gray-furred mouse ponders this for a moment, then decides, "Ah'll buy that."
"THROTTLE!"
Throttle hears Charley's frantic shout and turns quickly toward the sound of it. He sees the mechanic sitting nearby. Vinnie lies unconscious on the ground before her, his right arm pinned under his bod.
"It's Vinnie! He's hurt!" Charley cries (and thank God she does, because I couldn't have figured that out otherwise).
Throttle rises slowly to his feet and limps over to the two of them.
"Is it bad?" he asks.
The mechanic carefully places Vinnie's injured right arm on his chest, and unknots the bandana around his neck.
"I think it's a broken arm," she says quickly, "but we have to get out of here! If that gas truck blows--"
"Don't sweat it, Charley-girl!" Modo shouts from the truck's tank, to which he has managed to limp. "Check it out!"
He flips open a door on top of the overturned vehicle. Gasoline should immediately begin spilling out. But it doesn't. The tank is completely empty.
"It's dry as a bone," Modo concludes, peering inside.
"What?!" an astonished Charley asks. "But it was full when I left the depot!"
"Yeah, well, the only thing it's full of now is mystery," Throttle says somberly. "What the heck happened?"
Charley carefully tears Vinnie's bandana in two.
"I don't know," she admits, puzzled. "When I hit I-80, everything was cool."
Cue flashback scene!
We see Charley on a deserted highway, driving the gas truck, very much awake this time.
"Nobody on the road but me! Then all of a sudden, this weird eighteen-wheeler pulls up, and I hear a thump in the back! I look out my window, and there's this black 4x4 on my tail. And this guy with a hood leans out with some kind of gas gun."
(I didn't describe the flashback more fully simply because I think Charley's words are pretty much self-explanatory. The only thing we see that she doesn't actually say is, after the orange gas is sprayed into the truck's cab, Charley coughs and falls asleep just before the flashback ends).
"That's all I can remember," the mechanic concludes sadly as we return to the present.
"MY BANDANA!"
Everyone looks down, to see an obviously distressed Vinnie staring at his torn-up bandana, which is now knotted around his right arm as a makeshift sling.
"That was my lucky bandana!" he wails (sounding like a little boy who's favorite toy truck just got run over). "I never got wiped when I had my lucky bandana!"
"News flash, bro!" Throttle laughs.
"I think the warranty ran out," Modo concludes, grinning.
Charley pats him on the head as she walks over to where Modo is sitting.
"Besides, you'd have been really upset if I'd used your pants," she reminds him (although I'm certain the female fan base wouldn't have been).
"But….my bandana…."
Charley kneels down in front of Modo and props his leg up on hers.
"You're just lucky I earned a Brownie merit badge in first aid," she concludes. "Oh, and I almost forgot."
The mechanic blows Vinnie a kiss.
"Thanks for saving my life."
Vinnie, who always considers himself a suave, cool Romeo, grins sheepishly, almost blushing (but, hey, under thick fur, who can tell?). His bros "woo", teasing playfully.
Charley turns her attention back to Modo, tying a thick white cloth around his knee and leg, making a splint (I think).
"Now hold still! This is just temporary until we can get a cast on you."
"A cast?" Vinnie asks, repulsed. "Not! I can't look studly in a sling!"
He holds his arm up to point this out, and immediately regrets it. The broken bones audibly crunch together. Vinnie winces, grabs his arm, and groans, "Oooh, Momma…"
I can't believe Modo didn't jump up and shout, "Copyright infringement!" on that one.
"Aw, quit your ravin'…" Charley says, grinning.
Suddenly, she freezes.
"Hey, wait a minute! The 4x4 had a picture of a raven on the side!"
"That's the big piece in the puzzle, then!" Throttle shouts. "That's who did it! The Road Ravens!"
He points to a nearby wall, heavily laden with graffiti. Some if it doesn't make any sense whatsoever ("Frod Lives"?), some are obvious in-jokes (a Mercedes symbol, one that reads "Sprayed Gang"), but the one that stands out most prominently is a multiple-color (and very well done, compared to the rest of them) stylized raven, underneath which are painted the words ROAD RAVENS RULE.
"Now, they started taggin' up this town about the same time as the hijackings started," Throttle says thoughtfully.
He chuckles grimly.
"Well, it's time to get busy, guys. These Road Ravens are bad news. I mean, they mess my town, they mess my friends….Lemme tell you somethin', bros--they're messin' with the wrong mouse!"
Of course, whenever anything bad goes down in the Windy City, you just know that Lawrence Limburger, the Big Cheese himself, has something to do with it (except in "The Pits", but that doesn't count...). So it comes as no surprise that the next stop on our journey is Limburger Tower, where our favorite hateful halibut is cackling up a storm over his latest scheme in his office. There, he, Fred the Mutant, Karbunkle, and Greasepit stand around a small display table showcasing a model truck that looks disturbingly similar to the one that Charley saw.
"Finally, you feckless failures have come up with something useful!" Limburger declares proudly.
"I am so pleased that you approve, your extrudent firmness," Karbunkle coos.
Limburger puts an arm around the mad scientist. Stench waves are rolling off him. The whole time he's talking, we can see Karbunkle getting physically ill.
"Approve? Ah, Karbunkle, we have cleverly created a method with which to supply Plutark with enough gas for the next hundred years."
The two of them stroll over to the window, and stare out at the frozen cars and trucks on the street below (Karbunkle is still on the verge of throwing up).
"And in addition, we have brought all the traffic in Chicago to a complete stop, thus reducing smog. Yes, let's face it, gentlemen--I'm not only a genius, but maybe even a civic hero!"
"Yes, quite, your overripe aged to perfection head-cheesiness," Karbunkle mutters.
He finally passes out.
Meanwhile, over on the display table, Greasepit and Fred the Mutant are playing with the sinister-looking toy truck. Greasepit rolls it across the miniature road, making truck noises, and then runs over Fred with it, flattening the little freak. The goon leans over his now-wafer-thin compatriot and gives the closest thing to a moral lesson in this episode (Thank God!): "Always look both ways before crossing the street."
"No one will suspect that I'm behind the hijackings," Limburger continues. "They'll all blame the Road Ravens."
Fred slides off the table, and Greasepit continues racing the toy truck along the model, which angers his boss (it's his, dammit!).
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY ROAD SUCKER!" Limburger shouts, scaring Greasepit so much that he trips over Fred and falls right on top of him, causing the mutant's brain to shoot out (although he seems to be able to function equally well without one. Come to think, Greasepit seems to do A-okay without a brain, too).
Limburger picks up the truck gently, cleaning off the grease his inept henchman left on it.
"Treat this tanker with tender care," he orders the goon. "It's going to make me Plutark's most popular patron!"
Soon, on the roads outside Chicago (badly in need of repair--where's the Department of Transportation when your really need it?), we see the truck Charley was driving earlier abruptly intercepted by that same black 4x4 and the ominously-named Road Sucker. They pull up on the left side of the tanker, with the Road-Sucker lining up right beside it and the 4x4 racing ahead. A man on the passenger side of the Road Sucker wearing a black hood with red eyes leans out and fires the same orange gas into the cab of the truck that we saw in Charley's flashback.
"Sleep gas fired!" he says. "Let's get the fuel."
A hollow drill-tipped arm extends from the side of the Road Sucker. It bites into the side of the other tanker--the thumping sound Charley heard earlier. The two trucks ride side by side as the Road Sucker begins slurping the gas out of the other vehicle.
Except…
"What gives?" the driver shouts, staring at a fuel gauge showing the amount of gas pulled into his tank. The needle rests firmly on the E.
"That tanker's empty!" he yells.
"Hi, boys!" Charley shouts from the truck. "Remember me?"
The driver and his passenger look over to see Throttle and Charley sitting in the cab. Throttle has his helmet on (with its special air-filtration system), and Charley is wearing a gas mask (along with a hot biker chick outfit and sunglasses), thus protecting them from the gas.
"Sorry, Ravens, we're out of gas," Throttle says cheerfully. "But I've got something just as explosive!"
He motions toward the rear of the truck. Out of the empty tank rises Vinnie and Modo, on their bikes. Both are still showing the effects of the day's earlier accidents (assuming this is the same day): Vinnie's right arm is in a sling, while Modo's right leg is in a cast. It doesn't seem like a tremendously bright idea to yours truly that a person should be riding a motorcycle with a cast on one of their limbs, but when has logic ever matters to these guys?
"Let's pluck these birds, bro!" Vinnie shouts.
"It's time to rock--" Modo shouts.
"--AND RIDE!" the two mice call out, leaping their bikes onto the road. Modo lands in front of the Road Sucker, while Vinnie goes after the 4x4.
"Hey, birdie boys!" the gray-furred mouse shouts. "Hope this don't ruffle your feathers!"
He fires a pair of rear missiles at the Road Sucker, which quickly brings up a translucent blue shield in front of it. Modo's missiles hit it instead of the tanker, doing no damage to the truck.
A large laser cannon rises up out of the Road Sucker. It fires on the gray-furred mouse, but misses because of his close proximity to the vehicle. The laser does blast a huge trench in the road ahead, however, one Modo is forced to ride into. He makes it through okay, but when he lands after jumping his bike out, it does a number on his busted leg. The mouse yelps in pain, ends up turning his bike on its side, and slides off the road.
"Dang!" Modo shouts from the side of the road as he watches the semi roll past. "If it wasn't for this bum leg, I'd kick the spit out of that guzzlin' gas hog!"
Up ahead, Vinnie is still after the 4x4. While his broken arm is an inconvenience, it doesn't cause him as much trouble as Modo's leg caused him. The fact that he's not being fired on probably helps, too.
"Listen up, Ravens! I got a couple of points I wanna make!" Vinnie shouts, aiming his lasers at the vehicle. He takes out its rear tires, causing the driver to lose control. He crashes into a telephone pole. The triumphant Biker Mice pull up nearby as Vinnie plucks the driver from his seat.
"These canaries won't be chirpin' for a while!" he declares.
Modo, meanwhile, is feeling a bit down about his performance.
"Sorry, bros. Ah laid an egg," he sighs. "The other one got clean away."
"Hey, don't sweat it, Modo," Throttle encourages him from the cab of the truck. "Maybe we lost the truck, but they lost a couple of drivers! And they're gonna need new blood!"
Throttle tears the mask off the Raven Vinnie is holding.
"You mean…?" the white-furred mouse asks.
"Bingo, bro! We are gonna transfuse 'em!"
So just where do the Road Ravens hang out when they're not out terrorizing the general populace? That's easy: the roadside tavern known as The Old Raven. There, Ravens of every size and shape (although they're all in the same gray jacket/black muscle shirt/black mask with red eyes outfit) relax before their next bout of general unpleasantness. They play pool, throw knives at dartboards, arm wrestle--you know, wholesome stuff. It's like a slightly neater version of the bar Vinnie stopped at in "The Pits", although a chair does go through the window in the fist few seconds of animation.
Things are relatively peaceful, however--up until the moment when Throttle bursts through the front doors on his bike, upsetting tables, chairs, and whatever else happens to be in his way, including the Road Ravens themselves, who become very vocal about the sujbect. The mouse pulls to a stop, and we see that Charley is on the back of his bike. She steps off and stands beside him, chewing something and just generally being sexy.
"Shut up!" Throttle shouts, waving a fist at the Ravens. When they quiet down a little, he growls, "The word on the street is that you guys ran into a little 'bad luck', and need yourselves a driver."
A Raven steps forward, and asks, "Yeah? You any good?"
Charley coolly replies, "He's the best."
"Oh yeah?"
The "recruiter" steps forward, as if to grab Charley, but Throttle easily pushes him aside.
"Hey! You're not gonna disagree with my lady-friend here, are ya?"
"We'll see, tough guy," the Raven replies. "You want the job, you get it the same way we did."
"Cool," Charley says, blowing a bubble with her gum.
Throttle laughs and steps off his bike, walking right up to the Raven, who is almost a full head taller than he is (a little taller than Modo, even).
"Well, obviously the requirements aren't real high," the mouse says with a wry grin. "Where do I apply?"
"Here's the application, chump."
BAM!
The Raven hits Throttle square in the head, knocking him to the ground. Instantly, six more Ravens surround the mouse, each one itching for a fight with the interloper.
"If you live," the recruiter concludes, "you get the job."
"Good working conditions, good co-workers-sounds like a good job. Even comes with six turkeys for a Christmas bonus."
Throttle's grin widens as the first of the Ravens approaches. The tan-furred mouse knocks him down easily with a kick to the face as he gets to his feet.
"Now, before I sign on, I still got a few questions," he says as he knocks one of them out with a single punch. "I mean, we haven't even talked about paid vacations!"
Another Raven comes up from behind, intending to hit Throttle over the head with a chair. The mouse ducks and lets the miscreant fly right over top of him.
"Oh, yeah, and what kind of dental plan do you guys offer?"
Yet another Raven comes at him, swinging for the mouse, who dodges every single punch with no difficulty whatsoever.
"Be true--"
Swing!
"--to your teeth--"
Swing, this one slightly closer to connecting!
"Whoah! Or they'll be false--"
Swing!
"--to you!"
Throttle lets loose a punch of his own. Unlike the last three punches thrown, this one connects immediately with its target, knocking him to the ground. Throttle catches two of the unfortunate Raven's teeth as he falls to the ground, which he shakes like dice and throws back to their owner.
"Excuse me. I believe these are yours."
Out on the road, meanwhile, Vinnie and Modo are driving the truck from earlier, trying to tempt the Road Ravens into another attack, with Vinnie at the wheel (this does not strike me as a tremendously good idea right from the start). Modo, meanwhile, is making a request on the radio.
"That's a big 10-4, Sweet Georgie, over and out."
Sweet Georgie Brown's voice is heard on the air.
"Hey, buddies, we just got a request over the CB for 'Eight Days With the Load' by the Long Hauls!"
Vinnie and Modo shout "YES!" and high five each other.
"It's a dangerous vibe," the DJ continues, "so you guys be careful out there, bros! Ain't a gas truck made it part those hijackers yet, and I need all the fans I can get!"
As the music starts playing, Modo begins writing something on Vinnie's cast.
"Yeah, we want those Road Runts to try somethin'!" he says, scribbling. "We're bait!"
Vinnie glances down at his bro.
"Whatcha writin', Modo, good-buddy, trucker twin? Somethin' cool, nothin' blue, you copy?"
"It's from the bottom of my heart, bro."
Modo finishes, and lets Vinnie look at what he wrote.
"Aww," Vinnie says as he begins to read. "To Vinnie--"
His eyes widen.
"-who broke this arm trying to pat himself on the back?!?? Get better soon!??"
Modo laughs as his bro stares in horror.
"So true, so true."
Vinnie glares at him and snarls, "That's low, bro."
The gray-furred mouse lifts up his leg and snaps angrily, "Oh, yeah, you complainin' after what you wrote in permanent marker in red?"
"Well, what's wrong with 'Get well soon, from your hero, Vinnie?' " the white-furred mouse replies with a chuckle. "Look, I'm just tellin' it like it is."
Modo drops his heavy, cast-covered leg on Vinnie's lap. The white-furred mouse yelps in pain and swats if off.
"Heavy message, bro," Modo says, leaning back, never noticing Vinnie raising his similarly heavy cast-covered arm.
WHAP!
"Ow!" Modo shouts.
"Sorry!" Vinnie answers in a sing-songy voice. "Must've slipped!" He shifts gears, then sighs, "This is boring, Modo! How come Throttle gets to have all the fun?"
BAM!
One of the Road Ravens hits Throttle square in the chin. The mouse lurches back and winces, then answers with one of his own. The Raven gets him again in the chin, this time knocking his helmet off, but Throttle manages to catch his next punch and push him back. That doesn't last for long, as the Raven comes right back in again and manages to clip Throttle on the chin yet again. Finally, the leader of the Biker Mice plants an uppercut in the Raven's stomach, then lands another one on his chin, knocking him to the ground.
Throttle stands for a moment, panting, while the Raven stares in shock at his opponent's strange, mousy features (I wish I could say something that didn't sound as doofy as "his mousy features", but I don't know the mouse equivalent of "canine" or "feline").
"Geez, you're an ugly one!" he shouts.
"Hey, my mother liked cheese, okay?" Throttle snaps back. "What's your excuse, uggo?"
The enraged Raven pulls a blackjack from his boot and shouts, "Hey! Nobody does that to me, you lousy--"
BONK!
One well-timed saucer-to-the-head from Charley sends the Raven down for the count.
"Boys, boys!" she shouts. "Can't we all just get along, huh?"
Throttle walks up and says with a grin, "I like your style, Charley!"
"Just takin' out the trash!"
The mouse leans over and whispers under his breath, "Don't you think you're overplaying the role just a little?"
"Hey, I could get into this!" the mechanic replies. She blows another bubble, but this one pops in her face, leaving pink gum all over it. Throttle chuckles as the well-beaten Ravens slowly rise to their feet.
"So, do I get the gig, or what?" he asks the first Raven.
"First you gotta meet our boss, Jimmy Mac," he answers, rubbing his sore noggin.
Throttle rises to his feet.
"Round two, huh? Well, I'm ready whenever little Jimmy is!"
Suddenly, the ground begins shaking. Soon, the entire bar is jumping up and down.
"Hey! Is this place on a fault line?" a puzzled Throttle asks.
A gigantic hand reaches out of nowhere and grabs Throttle by the vest.
"Say what??!" the astonished mouse shouts as he's lifted several feet into the air by a huge (bigger than the Pit Boss here!) man in a truck driver's uniform, sunglasses, and a hat bearing the Road Ravens emblem.
"Did I hear you call me 'little'?" Jimmy Mac ('cause that's who this is) asks in a low, rumbling voice.
Throttle points toward the ceiling and shouts, "What's that?"
Jimmy turns his head, and Throttle lands a vicious haymaker on his gigantic chin. On another man, the punch would be a total TKO. On Jimmy Mac, however, it's little more than a touch. In fact, Throttle is the only one who feels any pain. He winces and holds his hand as the boss of the Road Ravens turns his attention back to the mouse.
"Well, hey, I could've sworn there was a fly on your chin there, Jim!" Throttle explains sheepishly.
Jimmy Mac drops Throttle to the ground. He lands flat on his stomach.
"I like a good joke," he says, laughing.
The giant continues laughing as Throttle weakly works his way up to a kneeling position, flexing his hurting hand. Charley leans in between them and whispers, "I think he likes you!"
"Must be my lucky day," Throttle mumbles.
Mac slaps Throttle on the back with his huge hand, sending the mouse flying a few more feet.
"I like you. You're a gutsy little guy," he declares. "I want you workin' for me."
Throttle rises slowly (and probably a little more cautiously this time) to his feet, and says, "Hey, whatever you want done, I'll make it happen."
"Oh, you bet you will," Jimmy says firmly. "If you wanna stay healthy."
"Oh, he does, he does," Charley interjects. "He's a real health freak."
The Ravens' boss puts his arms around Charley and Throttle (who suddenly has on one of those nifty Ravens' jackets and the black muscle shirt. In the next frame, he's back in his vest. Couldn't the animators make up their minds?). Jimmy squeezes them tightly against him and says, "Good. Then it's all settled. I'll give you the tour and explain the set-up."
He squeezes them again. Listen closely, and you can hear bones popping. Still, even as he struggles for breath in Jimmy Mac's bearhug, Throttle grins and chuckles quietly. Everything is going according to plan.
"You picked a wonderful day to sign on," Jimmy informs him, "'cause today's payday."
Back in Chicago, Limburger is having a decidedly different reaction to the significance of the day.
"I loathe payday," he grumbles, stuffing money into a large satchel. The frustrated fish turns to Karbunkle and asks, "When are you going to build me another counterfeiting machine?"
"I did build one, your fragrant ripeness!" the scientist shouts defensively. "Fred the Mutant ate it."
He gestures toward the short freak, who suddenly burps up some mangled ones.
"Excuse my manners," Fred says shyly.
Limburger throws the satchel at Fred. The impact sends him flying halfway across the room (and you know Freddie's lovin' that!).
"That malformed mutant is making me spend my own money?" the Plutarkian asks angrily. "Well then, since you're responsible for this repellant reptile, I'll deduct it from your pay (technically, Limburger himself should be responsible, since he asked Karbunkle to build the little pain in the butt back on Mars (in "Once Upon a Time on Mars"))!"
Greasepit gloats over Karbunkle.
"He can't deduct it from my pay, 'cause I don't get paid!" he declares proudly.
The goon suddenly realizes what he's saying, and asks, "Hey! How come I don't get paid?"
"My saintly patience is payment enough!" Limburger shouts. "Now shut up and take that bag!"
Greasepit stomps over to the satchel and picks it up, pausing for a moment to peel the flattened Fred the Mutant from the bottom. He drifts to the floor, and as a particular sound effect plays to accompany it, he mutters happily, "Ooh, I love that sound!"
"Take the payment to Jimmy Mac," Limburger continues, "and instruct him to have the gasoline ready for shipment tomorrow night." He turns and declares proudly, "This time tomorrow, all Plutark will hail me as the man who gave them... gas!"
A fart-like noise is heard offscreen. Limburger turns, annoyed, to see it was just Fred blowing himself back up into shape. The mutant grins sheepishly.
Back on the highway, meanwhile, Vinnie and Modo find themselves extremely bored. Not a single Road Raven has appeared on the scene, and accordingly, there haven't been any more attempts to hijack their nonexistent cargo.
"Man!" Vinnie groans. "If I don’t see some action soon, I'm gonna fade away!"
Suddenly, the two mice look up and see Greasepit on the road below, headed in the opposite direction.
"Where's that wrench-head rushin' off to?" Modo wonders.
"More to the point, professor!" Vinnie interrupts. "Where'd he get that fuel for that gas-guzzling hog he rides?"
"Hey! What say we scope it out, bro?"
As if he had to ask.
Vinnie immediately makes a sharp U-turn, driving straight over a cement barrier and onto the other side of the road. The truck begins racing after Greasepit, it's two occupants probably more thrilled with the fact that they have something to do than with the notion that they may have found a connection between Limburger and the hijackings. But hey, can you blame them?
Meanwhile, back at The Old Raven, Jimmy Mace is showing Throttle (now in the jacket and muscle shirt for the rest of the episode--none of that switching back and forth stuff) and Charley around. They stop at the Road Sucker, which Jimmy shows them with no small amount of pride.
"This here's the Road Sucker," he says, climbing into the cab. "Greatest little hijackin' machine ever built. You just pull up next to a gas truck, and--CHOMP!"
He pulls a lever inside the cab. Instantly, the drill press on the side of the Road Sucker shoots out, bare inches from Throttle's head.
"Gone in sixty seconds."
"I get the point," Throttle says quietly.
"HEY!" Greasepit shouts as he enters the room. He points at Charley and shouts, "What's she doin' here?"
Jimmy Mac glares at the goon and thumbs toward Throttle, growling, "She's with my new man, oil-face!"
"Yeah?" Greasepit asks. "Well, I smell a rat!"
He pitches the heavy, money-filled satchel at Charley. Throttle pushes her out of the way and gets hit by the bag (he gets hit a lot in this story, doesn't he?). It knocks his helmet off, and sends him to the ground (that happens a lot too, come to think). Greasepit grabs Charley quickly by the arms, holding her still. "I don't like being called a rat," the mouse growls, rising to his feet.
Jimmy Mac suddenly grabs Throttle from behind, and picks him up off the ground once more. This time, though, his bearhug is a bit more malicious, as he begins squeezing the mouse so tightly that he can't breathe. Bones pop ominously as the human tightens his grip on the struggling mouse.
"Well, that's just fine, ain't it?" the leader of the Ravens replies. "'Cause you're not gonna be anything much longer!" After the commercial break, he adds, "You know, I always kinda wondered if I could squeeze the life out of someone!"
"What say…we call this…a gimme, okay?" Throttle groans.
Greasepit, still holding on tightly to Charley, says thoughtfully, "I wonder if he'll go 'pop', or just go 'squish'. What do you think, honey?"
Charley blows a large bubble, then pops it all over Greasepit's face.
"I think you'd better not call me 'honey'!" she shouts, stomping on one of his feet. The goon, blinded and now in serious pain, released the mechanic and begins hopping up and down, holding his sore foot and groaning.
Jimmy Mac, meanwhile, has Throttle just about finished.
"When I get down with you," he says menacingly, "there won't be enough to feed the cat!"
The mouse slumps weakly forward.
Suddenly, the sound of a truck's air-horn sounds outside, growing increasingly louder.
"What?" Jimmy shouts.
The rear wall of The Old Raven's garage bursts apart as the mice's tanker crashes through it.
"Is this a drive-through?" Vinnie asks.
"Hot dogs and root beer to go!" Modo shouts.
The truck crashes into a huge stack of barrels, sending them flying all through the room. Jimmy Mac drops Throttle and runs, while Greasepit is hit by several of the large containers, temporarily knocking him out.
Charley quickly goes to Throttle's side and pulls him to his feet. He's only borderline concious, so the mechanic has to hold him up all on her lonesome. Even when he comes to a little more, the mouse is so weak that he can't stand without her help.
Vinnie parks the truck and hops out of the cab.
"Well, I hate to crash the party, but you know what they say: you can't make an omelet without breakin' a few Raven eggs!" he declares. The white-furred mouse slips his good arm around Throttle, and helps Charley start walking him back to the truck. About halfway there, though, Throttle stops and pulls away.
"Go on, guys," he says, wincing. "I gotta--"
Throttle draws in a sharp breath.
"--get my bike."
Charley calls out Throttle's name as the leader of the mice limps away (looking a little worse than he did when he was limping at the beginning of the episode), but Vinnie stops her in her tracks.
"Give him space," he says simply. "Just get in the truck."
Charley looks dubiously at him over her sunglasses.
Vinnie sighs grandly.
"It's a guy thing, okay?" he explains.
Throttle gimps over to the next room and pushes the door open. He enters, unaware that Greasepit and Jimmy Mac have emerged from beneath the oil barrels. Jimmy is extremely pissed.
"Nobody whacks Jimmy Mac!" he growls.
The leader of the Ravens walks over to the Road Sucker and gets in on the driver's side (how he fits in the cab given his size, I have no idea). Greasepit quickly gets in beside him, chanting cheerfully, "I get to ride shotgun! I get to ride shotgun!"
Before the goon can sit down, though, the Road Sucker is off and running.
Throttle, meanwhile, has found his bike. It lights up eagerly as he gets on.
"Hey, baby," he coos, pulling on his helmet, "you know I'd never leave you behind."
A group of Ravens dash into the garage. "Let's show these losers how a real lady walks," he says, grinning.
Throttle takes off, knocking down Ravens left and right as he makes his exit. A second after he shoots out, the Road-Sucker bursts through the garage wall, right on his tail.
Out on the highway, Vinnie glances into his rear-view mirror.
"Well, I got some good news, and some bummer news," he announces. "The good news is, Throttle's right behind us."
"And the bummer news?" Modo asks.
"The Road Sucker's right behind Throttle."
Modo turns to Charley and asks, "Charley, would you mind takin' the wheel?"
Greasepit, in the Road Sucker, begins firing the vehicle's mammoth cannon at Throttle. The mouse dodges the lasers, then returns fire. The truck's shield protects it from any real damage, as it has before, but it doesn't protect Greasepit from Jimmy Mac, who slaps him and shouts, "Cut the photon gun, you stupid grease monkey! I wanna feel that rodent under my wheels!"
Jimmy Mac shifts down, and begins closing the gap between the Road Sucker and Throttle, who is becoming increasingly aware that his lasers aren't doing a damn thing to that truck.
On the tanker, meanwhile, Vinnie and Modo once again pop out of the top, mounted on their bikes.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Modo shouts.
"It's time to take this show--" Vinnie adds.
"--ON THE ROAD!" the two mice cry, leaping their bikes from the tanker and onto the highway.
The Road Sucker, meanwhile, has managed to pass Throttle, and is now riding directly beside him.
"Watch me make mouse-kabob!" Jimmy Mac laughs.
The drill press suddenly shoots out of the side of the Road Sucker, nearly taking Throttle's head off with it. Never one to let an opportunity go to waist, Throttle grabs it and swings himself up into a perfect handstand on it, as if on the parallel bars.
"Stay with me!" he shouts to his bike.
The mouse flips his way up onto the top of the Oil Sucker (goddamn this guy is agile!).
Greasepit pops out the passenger window, bazooka in hand, and shouts, "I'll blast him offa there!"
His plan is pre-empted, however, when Vinnie and Modo's laser fire forces him back into the cab.
"Maybe when we get to a rest stop," the goon says sheepishly.
Jimmy Mac suddenly spots the Throttle's bros, and shouts, "Hey! Two more mutant mice! But it don't matter none! Nothin' can get through this truck's hide!"
The Road Sucker passes Modo and Vinnie, who quickly turn and begin racing after it. As they approach the rear of it, they see Throttle climbing down the ladder to the pump switches.
"Quit hoggin' the fun, bro!" Vinnie cries. "Let's total this turkey!"
"Just what I had in mind, boys!" Throttle answers, grabbing the pump hose. "Catch!"
He throws the end of it to his bros. Modo catches it easily, and the two mice quickly race ahead of the Road Sucker.
"Hey, what the heck they doin'?" Greasepit wonders, watching the two bikers pass them.
"Who cares?" Jimmy Mac snarls. "They won't be doin' it long!"
He tries to hit the mice, but to no avail.
On the back of the truck, Throttle watches as the hose unwinds, then shouts, "Oh, you're gonna like this trick, Modo! It's the mother of all--brodies!"
Throttle presses a button marked PUMP. Instantly, all of the Road Sucker's ill-gotten gasoline is pumped out of the tanker, and through the hose in Modo's hand-directly in front of the truck itself. It begins skidding wildly out of control. As it begins careening all over the street (in a sort of a good version of what happened earlier in the day), Throttle backflips off the truck and onto his awaiting bike. The mouse quickly catches up with his bros.
"Throttle-baby! You're still the best!" Vinnie crows.
"And your aim's perfect!" Modo declares as the truck barrels toward Limburger Tower. "Right on target!"
In the Tower itself, Limburger is on the VidCom with the Plutarkian High Chairman, reporting in on his mission's apparent success.
"And I assure you, Lord Camembert, there will be no problem in delivering the gas. No problem…"
Limburger hears the sound of screeching breaks and screaming. He looks out the window, and begins screaming as he sees the Road Sucker headed right for the base of his Tower.
"…at all…" the Plutarkian mumbles sadly.
The Road Sucker strikes the base of the tower, causing it to instantly go up in flames. Within seconds, the incredible heat of the gasoline fire reduces the once-proud building into little more than burnt toothpicks, which quickly crumble to the ground.
"I hate when this happens," Limburger grumbles.
The Biker Mice pull to a stop outside the ruins of the tower and begin singing.
"Jimmy, hey Jimmy, hey Jimmy Mac, he won't be comin' back!" they croon.
The three of them try to high five, but both Vinnie and Modo end up leaning over way too far with their casts, and immediately, all three mice are knocked from their bikes and fall to the ground. The three of them lie there, groaning, as Charley pulls up in the truck.
"You guys ever think of getting into a new line of work, hmm?" she asks, grinning and holding up the first aid kit, as she steps from the cab--and right into a puddle of gas. The mechanic slips and falls, then slides toward the mice on her stomach. She comes to a stop right in front of them.
"Wah-hoo!" Vinnie crows. "Belly-flop brodie!"
"Nice stop!" Modo laughs.
"I don't know about our futures, Charley," Throttle says with a grin, "but yours sure isn't with the Bolshoi ballet, babe!"
"Funn-ee," Charley grumbles, pushing herself up onto her elbows. The mice chuckle, and Throttle adds, "Nice plié."
(duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh!)
MY FEELINGS ON THE EPISODE
Another "tied for number one" episode. "Road Ravens" is pure entertainment. Lots of action, lots of humor, and a great story. Like I said, this is the "Throttle" story, and although there aren't any major revelations about his character, it's great to see him in action. Usually, Throttle's role as leader of the mice means simply coordinating the attacks and coming up with those great no-fail schemes, so he's usually in the background. Plus, at times, Vinnie and Modo's personalities overshadow Throttle's cool, brooding one. He's the middleman between the extremes the two of them represent, so it's easy not to see him sometimes (and yet, he's probably the most admired of the mice). So it's nice to see Throttle really kicking tail and taking names in this episode, being really aggressive, not just leading, but doing (which is not to say that he doesn't do any other time, because he does), and picking up the slack for his injured bros.
That's something else I like about this episode: lots of physical injury. Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not into sadism or anything like that, and I wish the guys no ill will. I just like it when the heroes get banged up a little, mainly because it means that something about the good guys' usual tactics will have to change to compensate for those injuries. For example, look at the usual scheme the Biker Mice employ to put a stop to Limburger's activities. The plan the Biker Mice normally employ is "go in and beat the bad guys up," with the understanding that Limburger Tower will be blown up at the end. But with Modo's broken leg and Vinnie's busted arm, they would more likely than not be a liability in a barroom brawl, and obviously, their riding skills were affected by the injuries (most noticeably Modo). So just finding the Ravens' headquarters, racing in, and blasting everything in sight wasn't an option. That meant a different type of strategy would have to be utilized. In this case, the plan relied heavily on subterfuge, with Throttle infiltrating the Road Ravens while his bros acted as a decoy to lure out any of the hijackers that might be out and about. This change of pace made "Road Ravens" a real breath of fresh air (and much more fun to do a summary for).
It's interesting to note which of the two basically benched Biker Mice ended up with the specific injuries: Vinnie gets a broken arm, while Modo gets a broken leg. Modo could have just as easily gotten a broken arm from a logistical point of view, but it makes sense, if you look at it from the perspective that Modo has a sort of perpetual injury--his right arm was blown off and replaced with the bionic one. Seeing him with his good arm in a sling and the bionic one would be strange, in a way (or maybe it's just me). And of course, the bionic arm could also have been broken, but the fans might look at it in a sling and go, "Hey! Why the Hell can't they just fix it?" Modo's right arm is eventually badly hurt to the point of being beyond repair (see "The Verminator"), but this early in the show's history, breaking it probably would have elicited such a response.
The only question I raise on this episode is the obvious one: just how in the Hell does Charley manage to get casts on Modo and Vinnie? The woman said she had won a Brownie merit badge in first aid, so I'll buy the fact that she was able to come up temporary ways to immobilize the mice's injuries long enough to get their injuries properly set. BUT WHO IN THE HELL SETS THEM? And where? Unless the mice have an unknown buddy at one of Chicago's hospitals who could somehow get them in for X-rays, casts, etc. or something, I just don't know how they pulled it off. Broken bones do heal, but for crud's sake, they'll heal improperly if you don't take care of them right! Sigh. But this is a cartoon, after all. If you can accept the idea of seven-foot talking mice from Mars, you can accept these magic casts as well.
The humor in this episode is great as well. It's endlessly amusing to hear Vinnie complain that Throttle is "having all the fun," and then to zip-pan to Throttle getting beaten up (this is similar to "The Pits," when Vinnie found out that his bros had been sentenced to death in the Pit Boss's Arena, and he groaned, "I miss out on everything!"). Modo's inscription on Vinnie's cast is clever, and their subsequent tiff is enjoyable, particularly watching them use their casted limbs against each other. Charley being hoisted by her own petard at the end--joking that the mice should think about doing something else in which they won't get hurt as much, and then her slipping and falling--also stands out. And Limburger's line about being remembered as "the man who gave [the Plutarkians] gas" is absolutely priceless.
Animation on this episode is good throughout, with nothing spectacular but no major trouble spots (discounting that incident with Throttle's incredible quick change of clothing at The Old Raven). Detail is good, particularly on Vinnie's bad landing, like I mentioned earlier. Also, when Greasepit leans over the flattened Fred on the display table, he pushes down some of the tiny little model bushes, which I thought was definitely a good touch. Music and voice-acting are as excellent as ever.
Like the rest of the first season episodes, this one is available on video. This is one of those "must-see" ones. If you like Throttle, make sure you see this one. The tape is named "Chill Zone", and also includes (obviously) "Chill Zone." E-bay is a great place to pick up the first-season tapes, usually at a bargain price (I've seen them go for two dollars or less). Simply enter "biker mice" in the search field, and a listing of available Biker Mice products will be given. Amazon.com is another good place to go looking. Searching through Yahoo and AltaVista might also turn up video sources online. You won't regret your search. Good luck!
Main
| basic information | episodes | in-depth | fun | MAIN |