The Big Clam-Up is the ninth episode in the second season of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
Main Characters[]
The main characters featured in this episode are:
- Kwame
- Wheeler
- Linka
- Gi
- Ma-Ti
- Captain Planet
- Gaia
- Verminous Skumm
- The Rat Pack
Plot Synopsis[]
As Ma-Ti becomes engrossed in the Dash Raymond detective novels, a real mystery emerges. Numerous people have fallen victim to poisoning by a cocktail of oil, nitrates, bacteria, heavy metal, solvents, and pesticides at an alarming rate in San Francisco. The Planeteers are sent to find out the source, and Ma-Ti tries to use some detective skill to find out the culprit only to always come up short... or does he?
Episode Summary[]
In San Francisco, many are falling sick to poisonings of what look like various toxins and chemicals. The Planeteers go to investigate. Ma-Ti's obsession for old mystery novels makes him eager to prove how good a detective he is. However, none of them notice Verminous Skumm's presence when every place they examine is sabotaged and those they get information from sicken. Ma-Ti's distractions don't help the others learn everything soon enough to solve the problem, so they have him stay behind while they meet a talking mime who invites them to a restaurant at the Bay called The Sinking Ship. They soon learn who he is and that he causes the disease here by feeding runoff-contaminated seafood, and need help to escape when they are about to be made to eat it themselves...
Planeteer Alerts[]
- First Planeteer Alert
Gi: We all love to swim and fish and go boating.
Kwame: So remember, the things that wash into our streets and gutters end up in our lakes and oceans.
Linka: You can help stop runoff pollution by using natural fertilizers.
Ma-Ti: Like grass clippings, manure, or mulch.
Wheeler: Never dump motor oil or other chemicals down sewer drains. Recycle them instead.
Captain Planet: And talk to your local authorities. They should be able to tell you how safely to dispose of toxic chemicals.
Man: The power is yours, kid.
- Second Planeteer Alert
Captain Planet: Every year, tons of toxic waste are dumped into rivers, lakes and streams.
Gi: Much of it comes from people's homes.
Wheeler: So to clean up Earth's water, clean up your act!
Ma-Ti: Do not dump chlorine, bleach, solvents, or other toxic materials down your drain.
Linka: And keep things like motor oil and batteries out of your trash!
Kwame: To find an appropriate site to dump these toxic materials, contact your local sanitation department.
Captain Planet: The power is yours!
Significant Moments and Facts[]
Ma-Ti imagines the others portraying the characters in his Dash Raymond novel.
- Ma-Ti as Dash Raymond
- Suchi as his trusty sidekick
- Gaia as the beautiful client
- Linka as a sultry dame
- Gi as a club dancer
- Kwame as a mafia thug
- Wheeler as a police inspector on the force
- Captain Planet as a mysterious veteran detective
Gi called the paramedics three times, the third time she sounded tired and weary.
Quotes[]
- Ma-Ti: [as narrator of the mystery book] Maybe I never should have taken the caper. Maybe I should have just clammed up when that doll knocked on my office door. Instead, I said: “Come on in”. She was tall, dark...and semi-transparent.
- Fantasy-Gaia: I'm desperate. I need your help, Ma-Ti.
- Ma-Ti: [still reading the book] The name is Raymond, doll. Dash Raymond.
- Gaia: Spirit of Earth to Ma-Ti, hello! [Gaia waves her hand before the eyes of Ma-Ti, who yells and falls off the chair in surprise.]
- Gaia: I want you to go to San Francisco and investigate.
- Ma-Ti: San Francisco? Dash Raymond's city? Gaia, I will take the cake! [Ma-Ti runs off towards the geo-cruiser.]
- Gaia: [with a sigh] I think he means he'll take the case.
- Ma-Ti: Tiny here does not think we meet the club's dress code. I told him my friend is wearing a monkey-suit...Helpful•0
- Mr. Sung: [of the fireworks going off] What is going on?
- Gi: A combination of Chinese New Year and the Fourth of July!
- Ma-Ti: [leafing through his book] Ah, what would Dash Raymond do in a fix like this? Ah, yes, I remember - in Chapter One he called on a sergeant he knew from the force.
- Wheeler: Well, we can call on a Captain with plenty of force!
- Captain Planet: I wish I could help you out on this, but I'm just a superhero. I'm no detective.
- Wheeler: Neither is Ma-Ti.
- Captain Planet: [whispering] Give him another chance.
- Linka: We are going a little fast, nyet?
- Wheeler: Nah. So far I've only got my arm around you.
- Linka: I mean the cable car.
- Wheeler: Yeah, you're right. Hey, brakeman, what gives?
- Brakeman: [tries to stop the car, the brake doesn't budge then snaps off in his hand] The brake, that's what!
- Linka: What do we do? We are going off the cable!
- Wheeler: Try the networks?
- Kwame, Linka, and Gi: Wheeler!
- Wheeler: Gi and I will turn us onto a side street. Fire![heats the cable to melt it and bend it]
- Gi: Water! [uses the source from a hydrant to cool it so it bends; the car turns and now shoots down a steep zig-zagging road]
- Gi: Oh, no! The side street was *Lombard* Street!
- Gi: [tiredly] I'll call paramedics... they know me by now...
- Wheeler: Hey, listen, you! This is a police matter! Don't monkey around in it. [to Suchi]
- Wheeler: And that goes double for you, cheetah!
- Linka: What rhymes with fear? Uh... deer!
- Kwame: Gear? Clear? Spear?
- Gi: Hear? Tear?
- Linka: Near? Uh, cheer?
- Wheeler: Uh, rear? Sneer? Steer? Leer!
- Skumm: No, you pea-brains! Pier! PIER!
- Gi: Hey! Mimes aren't supposed to talk!
- Skumm: I know, but I've only got till midnight!
- Verminous Skumm: [as his followers remove metal cones from the ceiling] Now our specials tonight are lobster-nitrate, served with fertilizer runoff, dry-cleaning-style clam-chowder...
- Wheeler: You can't make us eat! [one is stuffed in his mouth, the others get the same treatment]
- Verminous Skumm: ...crabcakes fried in dirty wate-foil, and oysters heavy-metal, in a pesticide sauce. And for dessert, cherry ice-cream! Huh? [one of his henchmen shows up with something on a platter]
- Verminous Skumm: Sorry, make that cherry-stone *clam* ice-cream. With toxic syrup! Eat hearty!
- Ma-Ti: [bangs open the door] No, Skumm - *you* eat! Heart! [summons lobsters to attack]
Gallery[]
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