Episode 6 - In The Belly Of The Beast

Before I start this post, I'd like to give a shout out to the 'Two Geeks, Two Beers' podcast. They gave this blog a shout out on their most recent episode, so I thought I'd return the favour by directing you to said episode, which is on 'Choose Your Own Adventure Books' and features a segment where they try out one of the ReBoot choose your own adventure books. The third episode of their podcast was on ReBoot as well. You can listen to the episode at this link, or you can find it on iTunes:

https://twogeekstwobeers.com/2019/03/31/choose-your-own-adventure-books-podcast/

In spite of being the series main antagonist, Megabyte hasn't been the central foe in an episode of the show too much so far. While he did appear in Racing the Clock and Medusa Bug, he wasn't really the main threat in those episodes. Heck, he didn't appear at all in 'The Tiff'. In this episode, though, he's back with a vengeance and we get to see glimpses of how menacing he can be and the threat he could pose to the characters if he didn't rely on his incompetent underlings to do his dirty work.

This episode starts off with a shot of Silicon Tor, which then pans down to Old Man Pearson's Data Dump. We see that an old binome is being held hostage by Hack and Slash. Megabyte appears on a vid window and starts interrogating the binome about any 'interesting' items in the dump. Said binome is Old Man Pearson himself, and he's named after ReBoot Co-Creator Ian Pearson. While Mr Pearson denies having anything of the sort, Megabyte gets Hack and Slash to bring up the log, which reveals that there’s an old unformat command at the dump. Megabyte orders his henchmen to look for it immediately and for Slash to show Mr Pearson how they deal with dishonesty.

Megabyte's binomes begin looking for the unformat command. They’re incredibly unmotivated to do so until Megabyte says there will be a reward for whoever finds it. Not too long after this, a binome finds it. Megabyte gets Hack and Slash to check if it will still hold a charge. Once the unformat command has been charged, Megabyte gets Hack to give the binome his reward - to be the test subject for the unformat command. Hack fires it at the binome, causing him to fall to pieces.

Then a crane picks up Hack and Slash, which turns out to have been operated by Bob. A viral tank chases Bob through the dump, and Bob leads it into getting crushed by the crushers, turning the tank into a cube. Frisket wanders into the dump just as Hack and Slash break free of the crane, dropping the unformat command right in front of Frisket, who then eats it. Hack and Slash get crushed by another crusher and Bob attends to Old Man Pearson, who has been tied up.

At the Tor, Megabyte chastises Hack and Slash for their failure at the dump, and then orders them to capture Enzo in order to get to Frisket. At the Diner, Bob and Dot are talking about the incident only for Frisket to come inside, looking much greener than normal. Dot points out how odd this is since Frisket never comes inside. Bob takes a look, opening up the top of Frisket's nose as if it was a car bonnet, revealing an engine inside. He can’t work out what the problem is until after Frisket starts letting out flatulence, leading to the conclusion that it was something he ate. Bob scans Frisket and finds the unformat command, which is trying to unformat his stomach. Bob zaps him with something to make him a little better, hoping that Frisket will be able to stomach it. He tries to get Frisket to leave at Cecil's request, but he won’t listen to anyone other than Enzo. Dot gets Frisket to go and find Enzo, and he leaves the Diner.

Outside, Frisket meets up with Enzo only for Enzo to be grabbed by Hack and Slash in a viral tank. The tank tries to flee, but can’t get very far due to Frisket grabbing onto the door with his teeth. It eventually breaks free, but the door gets detached. Frisket follows the tank to Silicon Tor where he is captured inside a large yellow cage, this is attached to a large crane being operated by Megabyte. He tells his men they need to operate quickly if they wish to get the unformat command back. Enzo says that he’ll erase them all of they hurt Frisket, although Megabyte says that hurt is not what he has in mind before ordering his henchmen to take Frisket to somewhere called 'the tank'.

Back at the Diner, Bob and Dot are sitting and Dot laments how she’s worried about Enzo and Frisket since 'they should have been here microseconds ago'. At the Tor, the cage with Frisket is lowered down. Binomes start prodding inside the cage with sticks, and then Frisket is placed inside 'the tank'. Megabyte orders his men to cut him open, which worries both Enzo and Frisket. Megabyte says that Enzo has served his purpose and orders Hack and Slash to place him outside the city limits. Enzo asks if he can say goodbye to Frisket, to which Megabyte responds 'no' and says that Enzo can find 'something else to play with'. Enzo then reaches for his Yo Yo, which distracts Hack and Slash as they’re amazed by this simple toy. Enzo then uses the yo yo to turn off the energy field in the tank, allowing Frisket to break free. Enzo and Frisket go down an elevator as Megabyte orders Hack and Slash to go after them.

Enzo and Frisket try to escape the Tor, but eventually, they’re cut off by some of Megabyte's Binomes, including a doctor holding a large syringe. They fire ropes from their guns to trap Frisket, but just before the doctor operates, Frisket flings Enzo onto his back and runs off, dragging the binomes behind them. After flinging them off, they eventually come across some important looking wires which Frisket chews on. This turns the lights off, confirming to Megabyte that they’re at the power control room, and after turning on the emergency lighting, orders his men to proceed there as he cuts them off from behind.

Enzo and Frisket eventually reach Megabyte's armoury. The binomes come up behind them, and Frisket pasts Enzo a large gun. Enzo aims it at the binomes, panicking them, then fires. It shoots out a life raft with ‘BSNP approved' written on it. Frisket then climbs on top of a massive rocket launcher, causing the binomes to flee in terror. Eventually, the binomes bump into Megabyte, who asks them 'You’re not running away now, are you?' The binomes then go back the way they came only to run back out again followed by a Viral Tank piloted by Enzo. Megabyte proceeds to give chase.

Enzo can’t pilot the tank very well since he seems to be hitting the walls constantly. Megabyte eventually jumps over the tanks and grabs it from the front, causing it to eventually grind to a complete stop. Enzo and Frisket sneak out the back door while Megabyte picks up the tank and starts bashing it about. Eventually, he sees them and drops the tank. Enzo escapes from the vent and Frisket growls at Megabyte. Megabyte orders Hack and Slash to get Frisket only to get completely torn to pieces before Frisket enters the vent himself.

Enzo and Frisket reach the top of the Tor, and Frisket soils himself. Then Enzo and Frisket successfully escape by sliding down the crane (or jumping in Frisket's case). Later, Enzo and Frisket are walking along the streets of Mainframe and Bob and Dot fly past them. After spotting them, Bob says they were on their way to rescue Enzo and Frisket from Megabyte, and Enzo says they kicked his bitmap. Back at the Tor, Hack and Slash talk about going after Frisket and retrieving the command only for Megabyte to step in Frisket's excrement, remarking 'Never mind, I think I’ve found it' before ordering Hack and Slash to clean up this mess.

While the plot of this episode isn’t overly complex, this episode is incredibly fun. There’s some great gags (including one at BSNP's expense) and some fun action sequences. The show seems to be getting the hang of the format even if the plots still aren’t at the level we're going to be getting in later seasons. Megabyte is portrayed as menacing, but the only thing that’s really holding him back from taking over Mainframe right now is his incompetent minions that he gets to do the work for him. The scene where he catches the tank shows how formidable of an opponent he truly is, which we're definitely going to see a lot more of later on. Of course, we still get the moment where Megabyte steps in shit which is a bit of a downside as it’s a bit of a childish gag. In spite of that, this episode shows the show beginning to find its feet as well as break away from the established formula.

Next week: We get pirates and some subtle foreshadowing in 'The Crimson Binome'