] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Aquaman Episode 20 - The Torp, The Magneto and The Claw

sgsg
Aquaman Episode 20 - "The Torp, The Magneto and The Claw" by Bob Haney

Aqualad and Mera are out on patrol, away from Atlantis, when they spot the dreaded Torpedo! Living up to his name, he attacks!


Aqualad tells Mera to take off and find Aquaman while he follows Torpedo. He is shocked to see that the pointy-headed bad guy is using an underwater junkyard as his home base. Even more surprising is that the Torpedo is not working alone--he has teamed up with two other metallic baddies, Magneto and The Claw!
sg
sg
sg
Mera gets a message out to Aquaman, but she is then captured (along with Aqualad) by The Claw, who stuffs them inside the jaws of an old bulldozer scoop, trapping them. Aquaman soon arrives, rescuing them, then turning his attention towards his old foes.

He first takes on Magneto, using his own powers against him. Aquaman summons some octopi, who grab some of the old junk and pile it on top of Magneto, whose magnetic powers trap him under tons of the stuff. The Claw then attacks Aquaman, who avoids the deathly pincers long enough to grab one of his arms, stretching it, and then letting is snap back, knocking The Claw out.

Finally Aquaman and Aqualad turn to Torpedo, leading him into a nearby cave. Torpedo thinks he has our heroes trapped, not realizing his powers don't work well in a closed environment. He dive bombs Aqualad, but Aquaman grabs him at the last second, causing Torpedo to veer off course violently:
sg
sg
The Torpedo ends up heading further into the deep dark cave, out of control. As the sound of his voice trails off into nothing, we have reached...The End!


Last week's episode featured three Aqua-Villains teaming up, now another set of bad guys get the same idea. If I was Aquaman, I would worry about some sort of conspiracy going on. Of course, Torpedo, Magneto, and The Claw were a team from the original 1960s Aquaman comics, but here on the show it's presented as if they're teaming up for the first time.

There's a funny little bit of snark in this episode--it's Mera's fault that The Claw captures her and Aqualad. So when The Claw clamps down the bulldozer's jaws on them, you can hear Aqualad complain to Mera, "We're trapped--thanks to you!" Mee-ow! Another nice moment is the final scene of The Torpedo disappearing into the cave. The sound editor of the show faded his audio, so you really get the sense he's going further and further away. A simple, if a little chilling, moment.

By the way, what's with calling Torpedo "Torp" in the title of this episode? Are we really on a nickname basis with this guy now?


5 comments:

BlUsKrEEm said...

I honestly thought these guys were generic Filmation baddies at first. The really look like they could be dropped into any of their shows.

Joseph Brian Scott said...

Featuring a pair of the rare Split-Top Azure Octopus.

Fun episode featuring the full cast.

Earth 2 Chris said...

Torpedo reminds me of Mr. Atom from the Captain Marvel comics.

I'll admit I thought Filmation made these guys up as well. Did DC's Magneto predate Marvel's more famous version?

Aqualad was always a bit jealous of Mera coming in and wrecking the "Aqua-Fraternity", wasn't he?

Chris

Anthony said...

1967 KID VIEWER: "Yeah! Way to tell 'er, Aqualad! What good is Mera, anyway?" (Picks up an issue of "Aquaman" lying nearby, flips through it) "Oh...um, besides being his wife...*and* the mother of his kid... *and* having pretty cool powers of her own... but *still*!"

:-p

As for Magneto, wonder how Arthur would fare against the more famous Marvel version...

Anonymous said...

Ahh, I like this one, largely because I like these three villains better than any of their appearances really warrant. I think that Aquaman's rogue's gallery has a good deal of untapped potential, and I rather feel like these guys are part of that. They could use a nice redesign, but the concept of three aquatic robots out to kill the King of the Sea is a good one.